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T  h  o  m  a  s 
Jeffer  son 

A  Little  Journey  by 

Elbert  Hubbard 

\N 

And  an  Address  by 

Jo  hn  J.   Lent  z 

Being  two  attempts  to  help 
perpetuate  the  memory  & 
pass  along  the  influence 
of  the  Great  American  S^ 


Done  into  a  Printed  Book  by  The 
Roycrofters  at  their  Shop  which  is 
in  East  Aurora,  New  York,  U.S.A., 
in  the  Year  Nineteen  Hundred  Six 


Copyright 
1906 

By   ELBERT   HUBBARD 

1898 
By  G.  P.  PUTKAM'S  SONS 


Thomas  Jefferson 


Thomas  Jefferson 

[ILLIAM  and  Mary  Col- 
lege was  founded  by  the 
persons  whose  names  it 
bears,  in  1692.  The  foun- 
ders bestowed  on  it  an 
endowment  that  would 
have  been  generous  had  there  not 
been  attached  to  it  sundry  strings  in 
way  of  conditions.  The  intent  was  to 
make  Indians  Episcopalians,  &  white 
students  clergymen ;  and  the  assump- 
tion being  that  between  the  whites 
and  the  aborigines  there  was  but  little 
difference,  the  curriculum  was  an 
ecclesiastic  medley. 
All  the  teachers  were  appointed  by 
the  Bishop  of  London,  and  the  places 
were  usually  given  to  clergymen  who 
were  not  needed  in  England. 
To  this  college,  in  1760,  came  Thomas 
Jefferson,  a  tall,  red-haired  youth  of 
seventeen.  He  had  a  sharp  nose  and  a 
sharp  chin ;  and  a  youth  having  these 
has  a  sharp  intellect — mark  it  well. 
Q  This  boy  had  not  been  "sent  "  to 

i 


Thomas  college.  He  came  of  his  own  accord 
Jefferson  from  his  home  at  Shadwell,  five  days' 
horseback  journey  thru  the  woods  ,3* 
His  father  was  dead  and  his  mother, 
a  rare  gentle  soul,  an  invalid. 
Death  is  not  a  calamity  per  se;  nor  is 
physical  weakness  necessarily  a  curse, 
for  out  of  these  seeming  unkind  con- 
ditions, nature  often  distils  her  finest 
products.  The  dying  injunction  of  a 
father  may  impress  itself  upon  a  son 
as  no  example  of  right  living  ever  can, 
and  the  physical  disability  of  a  mother 
may  be  an  influence  that  works  for 
excellence  and  strength  &  The  last 
expressed  wish  of  Peter  Jefferson  was 
that  his  son  should  be  well  educated, 
and  attain  to  a  degree  of  useful  man- 
liness that  the  father  had  never  been 
able  to  reach.  And  into  the  keeping 
of  this  fourteen-year-old  youth  the 
dying  man,  with  the  last  flicker  of 
his  intellect,  gave  the  mother,  sisters, 
and  baby  brother. 

We  often  hear  of  persons  who  became 
aged  in  a  single  night,  their  hair  turn- 
ing from  dark  to  white,  but  I  have 
2 


seen  death  thrust  responsibility  upon     Thomas 
a  lad  and  make  of  him  a  man  between    Jefferson 
the  rising  of  the  sun  and  its  setting. 
When  we  talk  of  right  "environ- 
ment" and  the  "  proper  conditions  " 
that  should  surround  growing  youth 
we  fan  the  air  with  words, — there  is 
no  such  thing  as  a  universal  right 
environment. 

An  appreciative  chapter  might  here 
be  inserted  concerning  those  beings 
who  move  about  only  in  rolling  chairs, 
who  never  see  the  winter  landscape 
but  through  windows,  and  exert  their 
gentle  sway  from  an  invalid's  couch, 
to  which  the  entire  household  or 
neighborhood  come  to  confession  or 
counsel.  And  yet  I  have  small  sym- 
pathy for  the  people  who  profession- 
ally enjoy  poor  health,  and  no  man 
more  than  I  reverences  the  Greek 
passion  for  physical  perfection.  But 
a  close  study  of  Jefferson's  early  life 
reveals  the  truth,  that  the  death  of 
his  father  and  the  physical  weakness 
of  his  mother  and  sisters  were  factors 
that  developed  in  him  a  gentle  sense 

s 


Thomas  of  chivalry,  a  silken  strength  of  will, 
Jefferson  and  a  habit  of  independent  thought 
and  action  that  served  him  in  good 
stead  throughout  a  long  life. 
Williamsburg  was  then  the  capital  of 
Virginia.  It  contained  only  about  a 
thousand  inhabitants,  but  when  the 
legislature  was  in  session  was  very 
gay  j*  j* 

At  one  end  of  a  wide  avenue  was  the 
capitol,  at  the  other  end  was  the 
"palace"  of  the  Governor,  and  when 
the  city  of  Washington  was  laid  out 
it  was  modeled  after  Williamsburg. 
On  Saturdays  there  were  horse  races 
along  the  '  *  Avenue  ' '  ;  every  one 
gambled;  cock-fights  and  dog-fights 
were  regarded  as  manly  diversions; 
there  was  much  carousing  at  taverns, 
and  often  at  private  houses  there  were 
all-night  dances  where  the  rising  sun 
found  everybody  but  the  servants 
plain  drunk. 

At  the  college,  both  teachers  and 
scholars  were  obliged  to  subscribe  to 
the  Thirty-nine  Articles  and  to  recite 
the  Catechism.  The  atmosphere  was 


charged  with  theology.  Q  Young  Thomas 
Jefferson  had  never  before  even  seen  Jefferson 
a  village  of  a  dozen  houses,  and  he 
looked  upon  this  as  a  type  of  all  cities. 
He  thought  about  it,  talked  about  it, 
wrote  about  it,  and  we  now  know  that 
at  this  time  his  ideas  concerning  city 
versus  country  crystallized. 
Fifty  years  after,  when  he  had  come 
to  know  London  and  Paris,  and  had 
seen  the  chief  cities  of  Christendom, 
he  repeated  the  words  he  had  written 
in  youth,  "  The  hope  of  a  nation  lies 
in  its  tillers  of  the  soil!" 
On  his  mother's  side  he  was  related 
to  the  "First  Families,"  but  caste 
and  aristocracy  had  no  fascination 
for  him,  and  he  then  began  forming 
those  ideas  of  utility,  simplicity  and 
equality  that  time  only  strengthened. 
CJ  His  tutors  and  professors  in  college 
served  chiefly  as  *  *  horrible  examples, ' ' 
with  the  shining  exception  of  Doctor 
Small.  The  friendship  that  ripened 
between  this  man  and  young  Jeffer- 
son is  an  ideal  example  of  what  can 
be  done  through  the  personal  touch. 

5 


Thomas  Men  are  only  great  as  they  excel  in 
Jefferson  sympathy ;  and  the  difference  between 
sympathy  and  imagination  has  not 
yet  been  shown  us. 
Doctor  Small  encouraged  the  young 
farmer  from  the  hills  to  think  and 
express  himself.  He  did  not  endeavor 
to  set  him  straight  or  explain  every- 
thing for  him,  or  correct  all  of  his 
vagaries,  or  demand  that  he  should 
memorize  rules.  He  gave  his  affec- 
tionate sympathy  to  the  boy  who, 
with  a  sort  of  feminine  tenderness, 
clung  to  the  only  person  who  under- 
stood him. 

To  Doctor  Small,  pedigree  and  his- 
tory unknown,  let  us  give  the  credit 
of  being  first  in  the  list  of  friends  that 
gave  bent  to  the  mind  of  Thomas 
Jefferson.  John  Burk,  in  his  History 
of  Virginia,  refers  to  Professor  Small 
thus :  *  *  He  was  not  any  too  orthodox 
in  his  opinions."  And  here  we  catch 
a  glimpse  of  a  formative  influence  in 
the  life  of  Jefferson  that  caused  him 
to  turn  from  the  letter  of  the  law  and 
cleave  to  the  spirit  that  maketh  alive. 

6 


After  school  hours  the  tutor  and  the  Thomas 
student  walked  and  talked,  and  on  Jefferson 
Saturdays  and  Sundays  went  on  ex- 
cursions thru  the  woods ;  and  to  the 
youth  there  was  given  an  impulse  for 
a  scientific  knowledge  of  birds  and 
flowers,  and  for  the  host  of  life  that 
thronged  the  forest.  And  when  the 
pair  had  strayed  so  far  beyond  the 
town  that  darkness  gathered  and  stars 
came  out,  they  conversed  of  the  won- 
ders of  the  sky. 

The  true  scientist  has  no  passion  for 
killing  things.  He  says  with  Thoreau, 
"To  shoot  a  bird  is  to  lose  it."  Pro- 
fessor Small  had  the  gentle  instinct 
that  respects  life,  and  he  refused  to 
take  that  which  he  could  not  give. 
To  his  youthful  companion  he  would 
impart  the  secret  of  enjoying  things 
without  the  passion  for  possession  and 
the  lust  of  ownership. 
There  is  a  myth  abroad  that  college 
towns  are  intellectual  centers ;  but 
the  number  of  people  hi  a  college 
town  (or  any  other)  who  really  think, 
is  very  few. 

7 


Thomas  Williamsburg  was  gay,  and,  this 
Jefferson  much  said,  it  is  needless  to  add  it 
was  not  intellectual.  But  Professor 
Small  was  a  thinker,  and  so  was  Gov- 
ernor Fauquier;  and  these  two  were 
firm  friends,  although  very  unlike  in 
many  ways.  And  to  "  the  palace  "  of 
the  courtly  Fauquier,  Small  took  his 
young  friend  Jefferson.  Fauquier  was 
often  a  master  of  the  revels,  but  after 
his  seasons  of  dissipation  he  turned 
to  Small  for  absolution  and  comfort. 
At  these  times  he  seemed  a  paragon 
of  excellence  to  Jefferson.  To  the 
grace  of  the  French  he  added  the 
earnestness  of  the  English,  and  he 
quoted  Pope,  and  talked  of  Swift, 
Addison  and  Thompson.  Fauquier 
and  Jefferson  became  friends,  altho 
more  than  a  score  of  years  and  a 
world  of  experience  separated  them. 
Jefferson  caught  a  little  of  Fauquier's 
grace,  love  of  books,  and  delight  in 
architecture.  But  Fauquier  helped 
him  most  by  gambling  away  all  of 
his  ready  money  and  getting  drunk 
and  smoking  strong  pipes  with  his 

8 


feet  on  the  table.  And  Jefferson  then     Thomas 
vowed  he  would  never  handle  a  card,     Jefferson 
nor  use  tobacco,  nor  drink  intoxica- 
ting liquors.  And  in  conversation  with 
Small  he  anticipated  Buckle  by  say- 
ing, "To  gain  leisure,  wealth  must 
first  be  secured;  but  once  leisure  is 
gained,  more  people  use  it  in  the  pur- 
suit of  pleasure  than  employ  it   in 
acquiring  knowledge." 


Thomas    &$££$(£^A'D  Jefferson  lived  in  a 
Jefferson     SSiffl®T/S?  great  city  he  would  have 

been  an  architect.  His 
practical  nature,  his  mas- 
tery of  mathematics,  his 
love  of  proportion,  and 
his  passion  for  music,  are  the  basic 
elements  that  make  a  Christopher 
Wren.  But  Virginia,  in  1765,  offered 
no  temptation  to  ambitions  along 
that  line ;  log  houses  with  a  goodly 
" crack"  were  quite  good  enough, 
and  if  the  domicile  proved  too  small 
the  plan  of  the  first  was  simply  dupli- 
cated. Yet  a  career  of  some  kind 
young  Jefferson  knew  awaited  him. 
C[  About  this  time  the  rollicking 
Patrick  Henry  came  along.  Patrick 
played  the  violin  and  so  did  Thomas. 
These  two  young  men  had  first  met 
on  a  musical  basis.  Some  otherwise 
sensible  people  hold  that  musicians 
are  shallow  and  impractical;  and  I 
know  one  man  who  declares  that  truth 
and  honesty  and  uprightness  never 
dwelt  in  a  professional  musician's 
heart ;  and  further,  that  the  tribe  is 
10 


totally  incapable  of  comprehending  Thomas 
the  difference  between  meum  &  tuum.  Jefferson 
But  this  same  man  claims  that  actors 
are  rascals  who  have  lost  their  own 
characters  in  the  business  of  playing 
they  are  somebody  else.  And  yet  I  '11 
explain  for  the  benefit  of  the  captious 
that  although  Thomas  Jefferson  and 
Patrick  Henry  both  fiddled,  they 
never  did  and  never  would  fiddle 
while  Rome  burned.  Music  was  with 
them  a  pastime,  not  a  profession. 
GJ  As  soon  as  Patrick  Henry  arrived 
at  Williamsburg  he  sought  out  his 
old  friend  Thomas  Jefferson,  because 
he  liked  him — and  to  save  tavern  bill. 
And  Patrick  announced  that  he  had 
come  to  Williamsburg  to  be  admitted 
to  the  bar. 

"  How  long  have  you  studied  law?" 
asked  Jefferson. 

"Oh,  for  six  weeks  last  Tuesday," 
was  the  answer. 

Tradition  has  it  that  Jefferson  advised 
Patrick  to  go  home  and  study  at  least 
a  fortnight  more  before  making  his 
application.  But  Patrick  declared  that 

11 


Thomas     the  way  to  learn  law  is  to  practise  it, 

Jefferson     and  he  surely  was  right.  Most  young 

lawyers  are  really  never  aware  of  how 

little  law  they  know  until  they  begin 

to  practise. 

Patrick  Henry  was  duly  admitted, 
although  George  Wythe  strenuously 
protested.  Then  Patrick  went  back 
home  to  tend  bar  (the  other  kind)  for 
Laban,  his  father-in-law,  for  full  four 
years.  He  studied  hard  and  practised 
a  little  betimes — and  his  is  the  only 
instance  of  a  bar-keeper  acquiring 
wisdom  while  following  his  calling, 
that  history  records ;  and  so  for  the 
encouragement  of  budding  youth  I 
write  it  down. 


12 


[ITHOUT  doubt  it  was  Thomas 
the  example  of  Patrick  Jefferson 
Henry  that  caused  Jef- 
erson  to  adopt  his  pro- 
fession. But  it  was  the 
literary  side  of  law  that 
first  attracted  him — not  the  practice 
of  it.  As  a  speaker  he  was  singularly 
deficient,  a  slight  physical  malforma- 
tion of  the  throat  giving  him  a  very 
poor  and  uncertain  voice  •**  But  he 
studied  law,  and  after  all,  it  does  not 
make  much  difference  what  a  man 
studies — all  knowledge  is  related,  and 
the  man  who  studies  anything  if  he 
keeps  at  it  will  become  learned. 
So  Jefferson  studied  in  the  office  of 
George  Wythe,  and  absorbed  all  that 
Fauquier  had  to  offer,  and  grew  wise 
in  the  beneficent  companionship  of 
Doctor  Small.  From  a  red-headed, 
lean,  lank,  awkward  mountaineer,  he 
developed  into  a  gracious  and  grace- 
ful young  man  who  has  been  described 
as  "auburn-haired."  And  the  evolu- 
tion from  being  red-headed  to  having 
red  hair,  and  from  that  to  being 

13 


Thomas  auburn-haired  proves  he  was  the  gen- 
Jefferson  uine  article.  Still  he  was  not  hand- 
some— that  word  cannot  be  used  to 
describe  him  until  he  was  sixty — for 
he  was  freckled,  one  shoulder  was 
higher  than  the  other,  and  his  legs 
were  so  thin  that  they  could  not  do 
justice  to  small-clothes. 
Yet  it  will  not  do  to  assume  that  thin 
men  are  weak,  any  more  than  to  take 
it  for  granted  that  fat  men  are  strong. 
Jefferson  was  as  muscular  as  a  pan- 
ther and  could  walk  or  ride  or  run 
six  days  and  nights  together  jt>  He 
could  lift  from  the  floor  a  thousand 
pounds. 

When  twenty-four,  he  hung  out  his 
lawyer's  sign  under  that  of  George 
Wythe  at  Williamsburg.  And  clients 
came  that  way  with  retainers,  and 
rich  planters  sent  him  business,  and 
wealthy  widows  advised  with  him — 
and  still  he  could  not  make  a  speech 
without  stuttering.  Many  men  can 
harangue  a  jury,  and  every  village 
has  its  orator;  but  where  is  the  wise 
and  silent  man  who  will  advise  you 

14 


in  a  way  that  will  keep  you  out  of  Thomas 
difficulty,  protect  your  threatened  Jefferson 
interests,  and  conduct  the  affairs  you 
may  leave  in  his  hands  so  as  to  return 
your  ten  talents  with  other  talents 
added !  And  I  hazard  the  statement, 
without  heat  or  prejudice,  that  if  the 
experiment  should  be  made  with  a 
thousand  lawyers  in  any  one  of  our 
larger  cities,  four-fifths  of  them  would 
be  found  so  deficient  either  mentally 
or  morally,  or  both,  that  if  ten  tal- 
ents were  placed  in  their  hands,  they 
would  not  at  the  close  of  a  year  be 
able  to  account  for  the  principal,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  interest.  And  the 
bar  of  to-day  is  made  up  of  a  better 
class  than  it  was  in  Jefferson's  time, 
even  if  it  has  not  the  intellectual  fibre 
that  it  had  forty  years  ago. 
But  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-five, 
Jefferson  was  a  wise  and  skilful  man 
in  the  world's  affairs  (and  a  man  who 
is  wise  is  also  honest)  and  men  of  this 
stamp  do  not  remain  hidden  in  ob- 
scurity. The  world  needs  just  such 
individuals  and  needs  them  badly. 

15 


Thomas  Jefferson  had  the  quiet,  methodical 
Jefferson  industry  that  works  without  undue 
expenditure  of  nervous  force;  that 
intuitive  talent  which  enables  the 
possessor  to  read  a  whole  page  at  a 
glance  and  drop  at  once  upon  the 
vital  point;  and  then  he  had  the 
ability  to  get  his  whole  case  on  paper, 
marshaling  his  facts  in  a  brief  pointed 
way  that  served  to  convince  better 
than  eloquence.  These  are  the  char- 
acteristics that  make  for  success  in 
practice  before  our  Courts  of  Appeal; 
and  Jefferson's  success  shows  that 
they  serve  better  than  bluster  even 
with  a  backwoods  bench  composed 
of  fox-hunting  farmers. 
In  1768,  when  Jefferson  was  twenty- 
five,  he  went  down  to  Shadwell  and 
ran  for  member  of  the  Virginia  Leg- 
islature. It  was  the  proper  thing  to 
do,  for  he  was  the  richest  man  in  the 
county,  being  heir  to  his  father's 
forty  thousand  acres,  and  it  was  ex- 
pected that  he  would  represent  his 
district.  He  called  on  every  voter  in 
the  parish,  shook  hands  with  every- 

16 


body,  complimented  the  ladies,  ca-     Thomas 

ressed  the  babies,  treated  crowds  at    Jefferson 

every  tavern  and  kept  a  large  punch 

bowl  and  open  house  at  home. 

He  was  elected. 

The  Legislature  convened  on  the  llth 

of  May,  1769,  with  nearly  a  hundred 

members  present,  one  of  the  number 

being  Colonel  George  Washington. 

It   took  up  two  days'  time  for  the 

assembly  to  elect  a  speaker  and  get 

ready  for  business.  On  the  third  day, 

four  resolutions   were   introduced — 

pushed  to  the  front  largely  through 

the  influence   of  our  new  member. 

These  resolutions  were : 

I.  No  taxation  without  representa- 
tion. 

II.  The   Colonies   may   concur  and 
unite  in  seeking  redress  for  grievan- 
ces &  & 

III.  Sending  accused  persons  away 
from  their  own  country  for  trial  is  an 
inexcusable  wrong. 

IV.  We  will  send  an  address  on  these 
things  to  the   King  beseeching  his 
royal  interposition. 

17 


Thomas  The  resolutions  were  passed;  they 
Jefferson  did  not  mean  much  anyway,  said  the 
opposition.  And  another  resolution 
was  then  passed  to  this  effect:  "We 
will  send  a  copy  of  these  resolutions 
to  every  legislative  body  on  the 
continent." 

That  was  a  little  stronger  but  did  not 
mean  much  either. 
It  was  voted  upon  and  passed. 
Then  the  assembly  adjourned,  having 
dispatched  a  copy  of  the  resolutions 
to  the  newly  appointed  Governor, 
Lord  Boutetourt,  who  had  lately 
arrived  from  London. 
Next  day,  the  Governor's  secretary 
appeared  when  the  assembly  con- 
vened and  repeated  the  following 
formula:  "The  Governor  commands 
the  House  to  attend  His  Excellency 
in  the  Council  Chamber."  The  body 
marched  to  the  Council  Chamber, 
and  stood  around  the  throne  waiting 
the  pleasure  of  His  Lordship  r&&> 
He  made  a  speech  which  I  will  quote 
entire.  "Mr.  Speaker  and  Gentlemen 
of  the  House  of  Burgesses:  I  have 

18 


heard  your  resolves,  and  augur  ill  of     Thomas 
their  effect.  You  have  made  it  my    Jefferson 
duty  to  dissolve  you,  and  you  are 
dissolved  accordingly. ' ' 
And  that  was  the  end  of  Jefferson's 
first  term  in  office, — the  reward  for 
all  the  hand-shaking,  all  the  caress- 
ing, all  the  treating  1 
The  members  looked  at  each  other 
but  no   one  said   anything  because 
there  was  nothing  to  say.  The  secre- 
tary made  an  impatient  gesture  with 
his  hand  to  the  effect  that  they  should 
disperse,  and  they  did. 
Just  how  those  legally  elected  rep- 
resentatives and  now  legally  common 
citizens  took  their  rebuff  we  do  not 
know. 

Did  Washington  forget  his  usual 
poise  and  break  out  into  one  of  those 
swearing  fits  where  everybody  wisely 
made  way  ?  And  how  did  Richard 
Henry  Lee  like  it,  and  the  Randolphs, 
and  George  Wythe? 
Did  Patrick  Henry  wax  eloquent 
that  afternoon  in  a  barroom  and  did 
Jefferson  do  more  than  smile  grimly, 

19 


Thomas  biding  his  time  ?  Cf  Massachusetts 
Jefferson  kept  a  complete  history  of  her  polit- 
ical heresies,  but  Virginia  chased 
foxes  and  left  the  refinements  of  lit- 
erature to  dillettanti.  But  this  much 
we  know:  Those  country  gentlemen 
did  not  go  off  peaceably  and  quietly 
to  race  horses  or  play  cards.  The  slap 
in  the  face  from  the  gloved  hand  of 
Lord  Boutetourt  awoke  every  boozy 
sense  of  security  and  gave  vitality  to 
all  those  fanatical  messages  sent  by 
Samuel  Adams.  Washington,  we  are 
told,  spoke  of  it  as  a  bit  of  upstart 
authority  on  the  part  of  the  new  Gov- 
ernor; but  Jefferson  with  prophetic 
vision  saw  the  end. 


20 


LEADING  lawyer  at  Thomas 
Williamsburg,  and  one  Jefferson 
against  whom  Jefferson 
was  often  pitted,  was 
John  Wayles  Jfi  I  need 
not  explain  that  lawyers 
hotly  opposed  to  each  other  in  a  trial 
are  not  necessarily  enemies.  The  way 
in  which  Jefferson  conducted  his  cases 
pleased  the  veteran  Wayles  and  he 
invited  Jefferson  to  visit  him  at  his 
fine  estate,  called  "The  Forest,"  a 
few  miles  out  from  Williamsburg. 
In  the  family  of  Mr.  Wayles  dwelt 
his  widowed  daughter,  the  beautiful 
Martha  Skelton,  gracious  and  rich  as 
Jefferson  in  worldly  goods  ^*  She 
played  the  spinet  with  great  feeling, 
and  the  spinet  and  the  violin  go  very 
well  together.  So  together  Thomas 
and  Martha  played  and  sometimes  a 
bit  of  discord  crept  in,  for  Thomas 
was  absent-minded,  and  in  the  busi- 
ness of  watching  the  widow's  fingers 
touch  the  keys,  played  flat. 
Long  years  before,  he  had  liked  and 
admired  Becca,  gazed  most  fondly  at 

21 


Thomas  Sukey,  and  finally  loved  Belinda.  He 
Jefferson  did  not  tell  her  so,  but  he  told  John 
Page,  and  vowed  that  if  he  did  not 
wed  Belinda  he  would  go  through 
life  solitary  and  alone. 
In  a  few  months  Belinda  married  that 
detested  being — another.  Then  it  was 
he  again  swore  to  his  friend  Page  he 
would  be  true  to  her  memory  even 
though  she  had  dissembled.  But  now 
he  saw  that  the  widow  Skelton  had 
intellect,  while  Belinda  had  been  but 
clever;  the  widow  had  soul,  while 
Belinda  had  nothing  but  form.  Jef- 
ferson's experience  seems  to  settle 
that  mooted  question,  "Can  a  man 
love  two  women  at  the  same  time  ? " 
Unlike  Martha  Custis,  this  Martha 
was  won  only  after  a  protracted  and 
persistent  wooing,  with  many  little 
skirmishes  and  misunderstandings  & 
explanations,  and  sweet  makings-up 
that  were  surely  worth  a  quarrel. 
Then  they  were  married  at  "  The 
Forest,"  and  rode  away  through  the 
woods  to  Monticello.  Jefferson  was 
twenty-seven,  and  although  it  may 

22 


not  be  proper  to  question  closely  as  Thomas 
to  the  age  of  a  widow,  yet  the  bride,  Jefferson 
we  have  reason  to  believe,  was  about 
the  age  of  her  husband. 
It  was  a  most  happy  mating — all  of 
their  quarreling  had  been  done  before 
marriage.  The  fine  intellect  and  high 
spirit  of  Jefferson  found  their  mate. 
She  was  his  comrade  and  helpmeet 
as  well  as  his  wife  ^*  He  could  read 
his  favorite  Ossian  aloud  to  her,  and 
when  he  tired  she  would  read  to  him; 
and  all  of  his  plans  and  ambitions  and 
hopes  were  hers.  In  laying  out  the 
grounds  and  beautifying  that  home 
on  Monticello  mountain  she  took 
much  more  than  a  passive  interest. 
It  was  "  Our  Home,"  and  to  make 
it  a  home  in  very  sooth  for  her  be- 
loved husband  was  her  highest  ambi- 
tion. She  knew  the  greatness  of  her 
mate,  and  all  her  dreams  for  his  ad- 
vancement were  to  come  true.  With 
her,  ideality  was  to  become  a  reality. 
But  she  was  to  see  it  only  in  part. 
CJ  Yet  she  had  seen  her  husband  re- 
elected  to  the  Virginia  Legislature; 

23 


Thomas  sent  as  a  member  to  the  Colonial 
Jefferson  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  there  to 
write  the  best  known  of  all  Ameri- 
can literary  productions;  from  their 
mountain  home  she  had  seen  British 
troops  march  into  Charlottesville, 
four  miles  away,  and  then,  burdened 
with  household  treasure,  had  fled, 
knowing  that  Monticello  would  be 
devastated  by  the  enemy's  ruthless 
tread.  She  had  known  Washington, 
and  had  visited  his  lonely  wife  there 
at  Mount  Vernon  when  victory  hung 
in  the  balance,  when  defeat  meant 
that  Thomas  Jefferson  and  George 
Washington  would  be  the  first  vic- 
tims of  a  vengeful  foe.  She  saw  her 
husband  War- Governor  of  Virginia 
in  its  most  perilous  hour ;  she  lived  to 
know  that  Washington  had  won ;  that 
Cornwallis  was  his  "guest,"  and  that 
no  man,  save  Washington  alone,  was 
more  honored  in  proud  Virginia  than 
her  beloved  lord  and  husband  &%& 
She  saw  a  messenger  on  horseback 
approaching  with  a  packet  from  the 
Congress  at  Philadelphia  to  the  effect 

24 


that  "His  Excellency,  the  Honor-  Thomas 
able  Thomas  Jefferson,"  had  been  Jefferson 
appointed  as  one  of  an  embassy  to 
France  in  the  interest  of  the  United 
States,  with  Benjamin  Franklin  and 
Silas  Deane  as  colleagues,  and  know- 
ing her  husband's  love  for  Franklin, 
and  his  respect  for  France,  she  leaned 
over  his  chair  and  with  misty  eyes 
saw  him  write  his  simple  "No,"  and 
knew  that  the  only  reason  he  declined 
was  because  he  would  not  leave  his 
wife  at  a  time  when  she  might  most 
need  his  tenderness  and  sympathy. 
CJ  And  then  they  retired  to  beloved 
Monticello  to  enjoy  the  rest  that 
comes  only  after  work  well  done — 
to  spend  the  long  vacation  of  their 
lives  in  simple  home-keeping  work 
and  studious  leisure,  her  husband  yet 
in  manhood's  prime,  scarce  thirty- 
seven,  as  men  count  time,  and  rich, 
passing  rich  in  goods  and  lands. 
And  then  she  died. 
And  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  strong, 
the  self-poised,  the  self-reliant,  fell  in 
a  helpless  swoon,  and  was  laid  on  a 

25 


Thomas  pallet  and  carried  out,  as  though  he, 
Jefferson  too,  were  dead.  For  three  weeks  his 
dazed  senses  prayed  for  death.  He 
could  endure  the  presence  of  no  one 
save  his  eldest  daughter,  a  slim,  slen- 
der girl  of  scarce  ten  years,  grown  a 
woman  in  a  day.  By  her  loving  touch 
and  tenderness  he  was  lured  back 
from  death  and  reason's  night  into 
the  world  of  life  and  light.  With  tot- 
tering steps,  led  by  the  child  who  had 
to  think  for  both,  he  was  taken  out 
on  the  veranda  of  beautiful  Monti- 
cello.  He  looked  out  on  stretching 
miles  of  dark  blue  hills  and  waving 
woods  and  winding  river.  He  gazed, 
and  as  he  looked  it  came  slowly  to 
him  that  the  earth  was  still  as  when 
he  last  saw  it,  and  realized  that  this 
would  be  so  even  if  he  were  gone. 
Then,  turning  to  the  child,  who  stood 
by,  stroking  his  locks,  it  came  to  him 
that  even  in  our  grief  there  may  be 
selfishness,  and  for  the  first  time  he 
responded  to  the  tender  caress  and 
said:  "Yes,  we  will  live,  daughter — 
live  in  memory  of  her!  " 

26 


[HEN  two  men  of  equal     Thomas 
intelligence  and  sincerity     Jefferson 
quarrel,  both  are  prob- 
ably right  •**  Hamilton 
^  and  Jefferson  were  op- 
posed to  each  other  by 

temperament  and   disposition,    in  a 

way  that  caused  either  to  look  with 

distrust  on  any  proposition  made  by 

the  other  &  Yet,  when  Washington 

pressed  upon  Jefferson  the  position 

of  Secretary  of  State,  I  cannot  but 

think  that  he  did  it  as  an  antidote  to 

the  growing  power  and  the  vaunting 

ambition  of  Hamilton.  Washington 

won  his  victories,  as  great  men  ever 

do,  by  wisely  choosing  his  aides  & 

Hamilton  had  done  yeoman's  service 

in  every  branch  of  the  government, 

and  while  the  chief  sincerely  admired 

his  genius,  he  guessed  his  limitations. 

Power  grows  until  it  topples,  and 

when  it  topples,  innocent  people  are 

crushed.  Washington  was  wise  as  a 

serpent,  and  rather  than  risk  an  open 

ruction  with  Hamilton  by  personally 

setting  bounds,  he  invited  Jefferson 

37 


Thomas     into  his  cabinet,  and  the  acid  was  neu- 
Jefferson     tralized  to  a  degree  where  it  could 
be  safely  handled. 

Jefferson  had  just  returned  from  Paris 
with  his  beloved  daughter,  Martha. 
He  was  intending  soon  to  return  to 
France  and  study  social  science  at 
close  range.  Already  he  had  seen  that 
mob  of  women  march  out  to  Ver- 
sailles and  fetch  the  King  to  Paris, 
and  had  seen  barricade  after  barricade 
erected  with  the  stones  from  the  lev- 
eled Bastile;  he  was  on  intimate  and 
affectionate  terms  with  the  Marquis 
de  Lafayette  and  the  Republican 
leaders,  and  here  was  a  pivotal  point 
in  his  life.  Had  not  Washington  per- 
suaded him  to  remain  "just  for  the 
present"  in  America,  he  might  have 
played  a  part  in  Carlyle's  best  book, 
that  book  which  is  not  history,  but 
more — an  epic.  So,  among  the  many 
obligations  that  we  owe  Washington, 
must  be  named  this  one  of  pushing 
Thomas  Jefferson,  the  scholar  and 
the  man  of  peace,  into  the  political 
embroglio  and  shutting  the  door. 

28 


Then  it  was  that  Hamilton's  taunt-     Thomas 

ing  temper  awoke  a  degree  of  power    Jefferson 

in  Jefferson  that  before  he  wist  not 

of;  then  it  was  that  he  first  fully 

realized  that  the  "United  States" 

with  England  as  a  sole  pattern  was 

not  enough. 

A  pivotal  point !  Yes,  a  pivotal  point 

for  Jefferson,  America,  and  the  world ; 

for  Jefferson  gave  the  rudder  of  the 

ship  of  state  such  a  turn  to  starboard 

that  there  was  never  again  danger  of 

her  drifting  onto  aristocratic  shoals, 

an   easy  victim   to  the   rapacity  of 

Great  Britain.  Hamilton's  distrust  of 

the  people  found  no  answering  echo 

in  Jefferson's  mind. 

He   agreed  with   Hamilton  that   a 

"strong  government"  administered 

by  a  few,  provided  the  few  are  wise 

and  honorable,  is  the  best  possible 

government.    Nay,  he  went  further 

still  and   declared  that  an  absolute 

monarchy  in  which  the  monarch  was 

all-wise  and  all-powerful,  could  not 

be  improved  upon  by  the  imagination 

of  man. 

29 


Thomas  In  his  composition  there  was  a  saving 
Jefferson  touch  of  humor  that  both  Hamilton 
and  Washington  seemed  to  lack.  He 
could  smile  at  himself;  but  none  ever 
dared  turn  a  joke  on  Hamilton,  much 
less  on  Washington  .3*  And  so  when 
Hamilton  explained  that  a  strong 
government  administered  by  Wash- 
ington, President;  Jefferson,  Secre- 
tary of  State;  Hamilton,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury;  Knox,  Secretary  of 
War,  and  Randolph,  Attorney  Gen- 
eral, was  pretty  nearly  ideal,  no  one 
smiled.  But  Jefferson's  plain  infer- 
ence was  that  power  is  dangerous  and 
man  is  fallible;  that  a  man  so  good 
as  Washington  dies  to-morrow  and 
another  man  steps  in,  and  that  those 
who  have  the  government  in  their 
present  keeping  should  curb  ambi- 
tion, limit  their  own  power,  and  thus 
fix  a  precedent  for  those  who  are  to 
follow. 

The  wisdom  that  Jefferson  as  a  states- 
man showed  in  working  for  a  future 
good,  and  the  willingness  to  forego 
the  pomp  of  personal  power,  to  sac- 

30 


rifice  self  if  need  be,  that  the  day  he     TTiomas 
should  not  see  might  he  secure,  ranks     Jefferson 
him  as  first  among  statesmen.  For  a 
statesman  is  one  who  builds  a  state 
and  not  a  politician  who  is  dead,  as 
some  have  said. 

Others,  since,  have  followed  Jeffer- 
son's example,  but  in  the  world's 
history,  I  do  not  recall  a  man  before 
him  who,  while  still  having  power  in 
his  grasp,  was  willing  to  trust  the 
people. 

The  one  mistake  of  Washington  that 
borders  on  blunder,  was  in  refusing 
to  take  wages  for  his  work.  In  doing 
this  he  visited  untold  misery  upon 
others,  who  not  having  married  rich 
widows,  tried  to  follow  his  example 
and  floundered  into  woeful  debt  and 
disgrace;  and  thereby  were  lost  to 
useful  society  and  the  world. 
And  there  are  yet  numerous  public 
offices  where  small  men  rattle  about 
because  men  who  can  fill  the  place 
cannot  afford  it.  Bryce  declares  that 
no  able  and  honest  man  of  moderate 
means  can  afford  to  take  an  active 

31 


Thomas    part  in  municipal  affairs  in  America 
Jefferson    — and  Bryce  is  right. 

When  Jefferson  became  President, 
in  his  message  to  Congress  again  and 
again  he  advised  the  fixing  of  suffi- 
cient salaries  to  secure  the  hest  men 
for  every  branch  of  the  service ;  and 
suggested  the  absurdity  of  expecting 
anything  for  nothing,  or  the  hope  of 
officials  not  "  fixing  things  "  if  not 
properly  paid. 

Men  from  the  soil  who  gain  power 
are  usually  intoxicated  by  it ;  begin- 
ning as  democrats  they  evolve  into 
aristocrats,  then  later  into  tyrants,  if 
kindly  fate  does  not  interpose,  and 
are  dethroned  by  the  people  who 
made  them.  And  it  is  not  surprising 
that  this  man,  born  into  a  plenty  that 
bordered  on  affluence,  and  who  never 
knew  from  experience  the  necessity 
of  economy  (until  in  old  age  tobacco 
and  slavery  had  wrecked  Virginia 
and  Monticello  alike),  should  set  an 
almost  ideal  example  of  simplicity, 
moderation  and  brotherly  kindness. 
Q  Among  the  chief  glories  belonging 

32 


to  him  are  these :  G[  I.  Writing  the     Thomas 
Declaration  of  Independence.  Jefferson 

II.  Suggesting  and  carrying  out  the 
present  decimal  monetary  system. 

III.  Inducing  Virginia  to  deed  to  the 
States  as  their  common  property,  the 
Northwest  Territory. 

IV.  Purchasing  from  France  for  the 
comparatively  trifling  sum  of  fifteen 
million  dollars  Louisiana  and  all  the 
territory  extending  from  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  to  Puget  Sound,  being  at  the 
rate  of  a  fraction  of  a  cent  per  acre, 
and   giving  the   United   States  full 
control  of  the  Mississippi  River. 
But   over  and  beyond  these   is  the 
spirit  of  patriotism  that  makes  each 
true  American  feel  he  is  parcel  and 
part  of  the  very  fabric  of  the  state, 
and  in  his  deepest  heart  believe  that 
"  a  government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people,  shall  not 
perish  from  the  earth." 


33 


Thomas  Jefferson 

THE    RADICAL 


Address  of  Hon.  John  J.  Lentz,  of 
Columbus,    Ohio,    at   the  Roycroft 
Pavilion,  East   Aurora,  New  York, 
July  Fourth,  Nineteen  Hundred  Five 


[ERE  in  East  Aurora,  Thomas 
the  Mecca  of  more  than  Jefferson 
five  hundred  thousand 
thinkers  who  read  The 
Philistine,  here  in  the 
city  of  the  greatest  uni- 
versity in  all  America,  the  greatest 
institution  of  learning,  I  come  to 
address  an  East  Aurora  audience — 
no,  an  American  audience — on  the 
birthday  of  the  American  Republic. 
Cf  We  are  living  in  an  age  of  elec- 
tricity and  we  travel  with  great  speed 
in  every  direction  and  on  every  line 
of  civilization.  I  can't  forget,  how- 
ever, that  I  am  in  New  York  when 
I  am  in  East  Aurora.  Ordinarily  we 
think  of  East  Aurora  as  in  the  upper 
atmosphere,  dealing  with  something 
higher  than  the  earth,  dealing  with 
something  more  noble  than  the  mere 
pocketbook;  but  when  the  balloon 
comes  down  we  are  in  the  State  of 
New  York. 

There  seems  at  times  to  be  a  strong 
bias  toward  the  belief  that  Jefferson 
was  an  aristocrat  and  a  conservative. 

37 


Thomas  C{  This  is  the  Fourth  of  July,  the 
Jefferson  birthday  given  to  Thomas  Jefferson 
by  his  own  brain  and  heart,  and  I  will 
show  you  that  he  was  at  all  times 
the  radical  of  the  radicals. 
Eloquence  has  carried  the  eagle  into 
the  skies,  eloquence  has  bounded  this 
country  with  its  seas  and  with  its 
Canada  and  its  Mexico  jt  But  there 
are  occasions  when  we  ought  to  come 
down  to  sober  thought.  I  pride  myself 
in  speaking  here  to  an  audience  that 
recognizes  that  there  is  something 
better  than  the  purse,  that  there  is 
something  better  than  acres,  and  that 
there  is  after  all  a  higher  purpose  than 
money  grubbing,  &  that  is  to  liberate 
the  intellect.  Build  all  the  houses, 
and  railways,  and  ships  you  please, 
but  when  you  're  through  building 
you  're  building  nothing  unless  you 
have  built  better  hopes  and  better 
hearts  for  this  country.  I  recognize 
in  politics  no  right  except  to  build  a 
higher  manhood  and  a  nobler  woman- 
hood. I  recognize  no  statesmanship 
that  does  not  everlastingly  look  after 

38 


the  common  herd  of  humanity  with  Thomas 
the  hope  and  the  purpose  that  every  Jefferson 
individual  shall  be  built  up  &  become 
a  pride  to  the  country. 
I  believe  that  this  country  has  no 
other  mission  than  to  have  as  high 
intellect  and  as  high  moral  purpose  in 
the  factory,  as  in  the  church,  in  the 
school  or  in  the  legislative  hall.  I  do 
not  concede  that  the  time  still  remains 
for  masses  and  privileged  classes.  We 
have  passed  beyond  that. 
I  do  not  care  to  discuss  Hamilton, 
except  to  say  that  he  was  the  one 
who  believed  in  a  president  for  life. 
He  believed  that  the  president  should 
appoint  the  governors  of  the  different 
states  for  life — he  believed  substan- 
tially in  a  monarchy.  He  brought  to 
our  attention  a  line  of  thought  which 
it  was  well  enough  to  consider,  but 
which  was  repudiated  by  a  majority 
of  the  best  men  that  ever  lived  in  the 
American  Republic.  He  proposed  a 
form  of  government  that  was  found 
wanting  when  tried  in  the  crucible 
of  1776. 

39 


Thomas  CJ  Hamilton  and  Jefferson  stood  for 
Jefferson  diametrically  opposite  propositions. 
Hamilton  called  the  people  "  a  blind 
and  brutal  monster."  Jefferson  said 
that  within  the  heart  and  brain  of  the 
people  you  will  find  the  true  aristoc- 
racy of  this  Republic  &  Hamilton 
believed  in  an  aristocracy  that  meant 
an  oligarchy.  Jefferson  believed  in 
a  democracy  that  meant  Christian 
socialism  jfi  Jefferson  believed,  with 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  in  the  doctrine 
of  loving  your  neighbor  as  you  love 
yourself  J*  Jefferson  was  the  first 
politician  or  statesman  who  wrote 
into  a  public  document  the  teachings 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  he  wrote 
it  in  one  word — Equality.  And  the 
great  Lincoln  was  good  enough  and 
frank  enough  to  say  that  he  never 
entertained  a  political  sentiment  that 
he  did  not  draw  from  the  life  and 
writings  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 
Now,  my  friends  who  think  you  are 
Republicans,  and  you  who  think  you 
are  Democrats,  unless  you  believe  in 
the  brotherhood  of  man,  unless  you 

40 


are  willing  to  concede  to  every  one     Thomas 

what  you  ask  for  yourselves,  and  go     Jefferson 

farther  than  that,  and  extend  to  every 

one  what  you  demand  for  yourselves, 

you  are  neither  Lincoln  Republicans 

nor  Jeffersonian  Democrats.  Emerson 

said,  '  *  It  is  not  so  important  that  we 

prevent  others  from  cheating  us,  but 

it  is  exceedingly  important  that  we 

do  not  cheat  them. ' '  ^*  That  is  the 

business  of  an  American  citizen.  Be 

careful  that  you  don't  cheat  some 

one  else. 

The  same  thing  is  true  in  politics.  A 

man   can't  be  an   American  citizen 

and  be  a  Christian  at  the  same  time, 

without  doing  unto  others  as  he  would 

have  others  do  unto  him.  And  the 

political  party  that  resorts  to  the  boss 

and  the  crimes  perpetrated   by  the 

bosses,  has  no  Christianity  in  it.  The 

political  party  that  will  resort  to  the 

gerrymander,  in  order  to  control  an 

unfair  proportion  of  the  total  vote  of 

a  state,  is  criminal  in  its  methods. 

And  the  man  or  woman  who  is  willing 

to  accept  that  kind  of  an  advantage, 

41 


Thomas  is  a  coward  instead  of  a  Jeffersonian 
Jefferson  Democrat  or  a  Lincoln  Republican. 
It  is  the  lowest  kind  of  cowardice. 
Talk  about  King  George  the  Third 
and  his  little  five  per  cent  taxation 
without  representation  1  When  you 
Republicans  are  willing  to  take  the 
control  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania 
of  all  congressional  representatives, 
by  resorting  to  the  gerrymander,  or 
when  you  Democrats,  who  dominate 
in  a  state  like  Texas,  are  willing  to 
do  likewise,  there  is  something  rotten 
not  only  in  Denmark  but  also  in  this 
country. 

Now,  if  Jefferson  was  a  fakir,  it  was 
because  he  implicitly  believed  that 
all  men  were  created  equal  &  And 
he  proved  his  words  by  his  practices. 
You  can't  take  the  full  measure  of 
Jefferson  in  the  light  of  1905 — you 
must  take  this  man  as  he  stood  in  the 
environments  of  his  first  public  act 
in  1769.  When  Socrates  sacrificed  his 
life,  when  Jesus  of  Nazareth  sacrificed 
His  life,  was  either  a  fakir  ?  j*  When 
Thomas  Jefferson  in  the  House  of 

42 


Burgesses,  in  1769,  introduced  a  bill     Thomas 

to  permit  the  master  to  make  his  slave     Jefferson 

free,  knowing  that  every  slave  master 

in  Virginia  was  opposed  to  it,  was  he 

doing  a  popular  thing  ?  Was  he  then 

catering  to  the  rich  ?  &  Was  he  a 

flunky  ?  Was  he  a  sycophant  ?  Or  was 

he  a  radical  ?  Did  he  go  down  to  the 

root  of  things  ?  &  Did  he  believe  in 

equality  when  he   introduced  that 

measure  ?  I  remind  you  that  prior  to 

1769,  and  for  many  years  thereafter, 

the  black  man  or  black  woman  was  a 

mere  beast  of  burden — if  a  neighbor 

chose  to  liberate  his  slave  and  the 

slave  was  turned  out  on  the  highway, 

the  very   first  person  who  saw  this 

slave,  could  take  him,  as  he  would 

take  a  stray  horse  or  cow,  and  put 

him  on  the  auction  block  and  sell  him, 

and  make  him  a  slave  again,  and  put 

the  proceeds  in  the  public  treasury. 

Jefferson  simply  introduced  a  bill  to 

permit  a  humane  master  to  liberate 

a  black  man  or  a  black  woman — to 

make  of  the  black  man  or  the  black 

woman  a  human  being.  But  it  was 

43 


Thomas  repudiated  almost  unanimously  in 
Jefferson  the  House  of  Burgesses  of  Virginia. 
I  hear  a  great  many  name  some  other 
as  the  originator  of  the  anti-slavery 
movement,  but  it  was  Jefferson  who 
introduced  the  first  bill  against  it. 
C(  I  propose  to  show  my  friend  Elbert 
Hubbard  that  this  man  Jefferson  has 
made  all  the  lawyers  respectable.  Our 
friend  Elbert  Hubbard  teaches  every 
one  something,  and  almost  any  one 
a  great  many  things,  and  following 
his  example  and  precept,  I  made  a 
little  journey,  on  the  first  day  of  last 
February,  to  Williamsburg,  Virginia. 
I  wanted  to  see  the  very  ground  upon 
which  this  Thomas  Jefferson  entered 
his  college  career,  and  I  went  to  the 
library  of  William  and  Mary  College, 
and  the  librarian  showed  me  the  old 
account  books  of  the  college  in  the 
winter  and  summer  of  1760- '61- '62, 
and  what  do  you  suppose  Thomas 
Jefferson  paid  for  his  learning?  In 
the  year  1760- '61  he  paid  thirteen 
pounds,  that  is  sixty-five  dollars ;  and 
for  the  second  year,  thirteen  pounds, 

44 


and  thus  he  graduated  at  a  cost  of  Thomas 
one  hundred  and  thirty  dollars.  The  Jefferson 
author  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence got  his  collegiate  education 
for  one  hundred  and  thirty  dollars! 
What  Thomas  Jefferson  learned  was 
to  use  his  own  head.  That  is  what 
Elbert  Hubbard  does,  &  he  is  the  best 
representation  of  Thomas  Jefferson 
in  this  country  to-day.  This  country 
has  a  drought  of  thinking  people  just 
now.  You  can  hire  men  to  dig  in  a 
ditch  for  a  dollar  a  day  «a*  But  you 
can't  hire  men  to  think  at  any  price. 
Most  men  who  pretend  to  think  are 
flunkies,  trailing  along  after  some 
one,  either  in  politics  or  religion. 
Thomas  Jefferson's  career  began  right 
in  that  little  town  of  Williamsburg 
— it  is  hardly  big  enough  now  to  be 
called  a  town  &  At  one  end  of  the 
street  is  William  and  Mary  College, 
&  at  the  other  end  of  the  street  they 
have  marked  out  the  old  foundation 
lines  of  the  House  of  Burgesses.  But 
this  same  House  of  Burgesses  has 
something  else  in  store  for  you  and 

45 


Thomas  me.  C(  In  1662,  from  this  selfsame 
Jefferson  town,  Colonial  Governor  Berkeley 
sent  over  to  England,  to  Charles  II. , 
a  report  on  the  condition  of  the 
colony.  In  that  message  were  these 
two  statements:  "There  are  no  free 
schools  in  Virginia.  There  are  no 
printing-presses  in  Virginia.  God  be 
thanked  for  it."  What  do  you  think 
of  that  for  a  governor  ?  Thanking  God 
that  there  are  no  free  schools  and  no 
printing-presses  in  Virginia.  And  he 
went  farther  and  said:  "And  there 
are  not  likely  to  be  these  hundred 
years,  and  God  be  thanked  for  that. ' ' 
Well,  Berkeley,  you  were  neither  a 
prophet  nor  the  son  of  a  prophet  I 
Berkeley  never  thought  that  this  boy 
would  ride  from  Charlottesville,  on 
horseback,  clear  over  to  Williamsburg 
and  fiddle  his  way  back  and  forth, 
stopping  at  the  farm-houses  and  thus 
paying  for  his  night's  lodging. 
Such,  my  friends,  was  the  condition 
of  Virginia  in  1662.  They  had  no  free 
schools,  they  had  no  printing-presses. 
We  will  come  down  quickly  to  1776, 

46 


for  I  want  to  reach  the  Declaration  Thomas 
of  Independence  and  call  attention  Jefferson 
to  the  fact  that  this  was  only  one  of 
the  many  radical  things  that  Thomas 
Jefferson  did.  Thomas  Jefferson,  in 
1777,  stood  in  the  little  House  of 
Burgesses,  or  House  of  Delegates, 
as  it  was  afterwards  called,  and  there 
did  as  important  work  as  that  of 
writing  the  word  Equality  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence — for  as 
a  legislator  in  the  State  of  Virginia  his 
bills  directed  against  entailed  estates 
and  primogeniture,  and  in  favor  of 
entire  religious  freedom  and  universal 
education,  were  long  strides  toward 
practical  equality.  The  word  Equality 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
still  stands  as  an  ideal  rather  than  the 
real — still  stands  as  a  matter  of  hope 
rather  than  a  matter  of  history. 
When  I  was  a  schoolboy  I  thought 
this  Thomas  Jefferson  was  a  man  who 
went  to  Philadelphia  in  1776,  and 
after  a  few  days  wrote  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  But  this  is  not  so. 
Jefferson  was  eleven  years  writing 

47 


Thomas  that  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Jefferson  Robert  G.  Ingersoll  made  a  political 
speech  in  Indianapolis  in  1876.  His 
subject  on  this  occasion  was,  "Why  1 
am  a  Republican  &  not  a  Democrat. " 
He  had  an  audience  of  about  ten 
acres  of  people  to  which  he  spoke 
nearly  the  entire  afternoon.  When 
he  had  finished  they  gathered  around 
him,  and  among  those  who  eagerly 
congratulated  him  was  a  blue  jeans 
Hoosier,  who  said :  *  *  Mr.  Ingersoll, 
that 's  the  best  off-hand  speech  I  ever 
heard  in  my  life."  &  To  which  Mr. 
Ingersoll  promptly  replied:  "Yes, 
my  friend,  but  I  have  been  just  ten 
years  preparing  that  speech." 
So  Thomas  Jefferson  did  not  write 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  with 
one  stroke  of  the  pen  &  In  1765, 
while  a  law  student  at  Williamsburg, 
he  stood  out  in  the  corridor  of  the 
little  House  of  Burgesses  and  heard 
Patrick  Henry  say:  "Caesar  had  his 
Brutus,  Charles  the  First  had  his 
Cromwell,"  &  when  some  of  the  old 
Tories  shouted,  "Treason,  treason," 

48 


Henry  said,  "and  George  the  Third     Thomas 
may  profit  by  their  example.  If  this    Jefferson 
be   treason,  make  the  most  of  it." 
That  is  the  day,  that  is  the  hour  and 
minute  when  Thomas  Jefferson  began 
the  preparation  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence. 

From  May  30,  1765,  down  to  July 
4,  1776,  Thomas  Jefferson  was  think- 
ing continuously  on  the  rights  of  the 
people  as  against  any  and  every  form 
of  tyranny,  however  and  wherever 
intrenched,  either  in  state  or  church, 
and  it  was  during  these  eleven  years 
of  thought  and  preparation  that  he 
reached  that  mental  and  philosophic 
stage  which  prompted  him  to  sum- 
marize a  holy  and  sacred  principle  in 
these  words :  * '  Resistance  to  tyrants 
is  obedience  to  God. "  Of  all  the  vows 
taken  and  of  all  the  oaths  registered, 
dedicating  human  lives  and  mortal 
careers  either  to  church  or  state, 
there  probably  never  was  a  more 
loyal  &  faithful  resolution  registered, 
on  earth  or  in  heaven,  than  that  of 
Thomas  Jefferson  when  he  declared, 

49 


Thomas  "  I  have  sworn  on  the  altar  of  God 
Jefferson  eternal  hostility  to  every  form  of 
tyranny  over  the  mind  of  man. ' '  And 
the  tyrants  against  whom  Jefferson 
swore  this  eternal  hostility,  &  against 
whom  Lincoln  swore  eternal  hostility 
when  he  took  up  the  work  of  human 
rights  where  Jefferson  left  it  off,  are 
not  all  dethroned. 

The  English  monarch  who  levied 
tribute  upon  American  citizenship 
was  repudiated  and  dethroned  so  far 
as  one  form  of  tyranny  and  taxation 
is  concerned.  The  slave  masters  who 
misappropriated  the  daily  service  and 
earnings  of  the  black  slaves,  are  no 
longer  an  American  oligarchy.  That 
school  of  priests  and  preachers  who 
believed  in  the  union  of  church  and 
state,  who  believed  that  the  All- wise 
and  Omnipotent  God  could  only  be 
served  at  the  expense  of  the  taxpayers 
of  the  state,  are  to-day  without  any 
support  except  here  &  there  in  some 
insignificant  sectarian  school,  where 
the  beardless  youth  in  the  debating 
society  rushes  in  to  defend  an  obsolete 

50 


institution,  upon  the  principle  that  Thomas 
"fools  rush  in  where  angels  fear  to  Jefferson 
tread."  That  class  of  citizens  who 
argued  against  the  right  of  the  state 
to  maintain  a  public  school  system, 
and  guarantee  universal  education 
and  universal  emancipation  from  the 
demons  and  monsters  of  superstition 
and  bigotry,  are  substantially  all  in 
the  graveyard  of  oblivion,  their  bones 
lying  side  by  side  with  the  skeletons 
of  the  ichthyosaurus  and  the  mas- 
todon. "Defunct"  and  "obsolete" 
are  the  words  burnt  into  the  very  bone 
of  the  forehead  of  several  forms  of 
tyranny  jfi  But  the  tyrants  on  the 
throne  are  not  the  only  tyrants  who 
have  afflicted  humanity  and  retarded 
civilization  &  It  does  not  matter 
whether  you  levy  tribute  upon  the 
masses  while  you  sit  as  a  monarch, 
or  whether  you  levy  tribute  upon  the 
masses  by  controlling  some  great 
trust,  like  the  oil  trust,  the  beef 
trust,  the  street-railway  trust,  or 
some  other  trust. 
Allow  me  to  digress,  for  a  moment, 

51 


Thomas  from  my  subject,  while  I  read  you  a 
Jefferson  paragraph  from  an  article  by  Charles 
Edward  Russell  on  the  beef  trust,  in 
which  Mr.  Russell  says:  "Names 
change ;  details  change ;  but  when  the 
facts  of  these  actual  conditions  are 
laid  bare  it  will  puzzle  a  thoughtful 
man  to  say  wherein  the  rule  of  the 
great  power  to  be  described  differs 
in  any  essential  from  the  rule  of  a 
feudal  tyrant  in  the  darkness  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  Three  times  a  day  this 
power  comes  to  the  table  of  every 
household  in  America,  rich  or  poor, 
great  or  small,  known  or  unknown; 
it  comes  there  and  extorts  its  tribute. 
It  crosses  the  ocean  and  makes  its 
presence  felt  in  multitudes  of  homes 
that  would  not  know  how  to  give  it 
a  name.  It  controls  prices  and  regu- 
lates traffic  in  a  thousand  markets. 
It  changes  conditions  and  builds  up 
and  pulls  down  industries ;  it  makes 
men  poor  or  rich  as  it  will ;  it  controls 
or  establishes  or  obliterates  immense 
enterprises  across  the  civilized  circuit. 
Its  lightest  words  affect  men  on  the 

52 


plains  of  Argentina  or  the  by-streets     Thomas 

of  London."  Jefferson 

Such  is   the  tyranny   against  which 

both  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Abraham 

Lincoln  would  proclaim,  if  they  were 

living  to-day,  just  as  they  fulminated 

against  the  white  man's  tyranny  over 

the   black  slave,  years   ago  ^  The 

tyranny  of  a  foreign  power  is  not  so 

much  to  be  feared,  my  friends,  as  the 

tyranny   of  the  trustocracy  here  at 

home.  We  need  not  in  the  least  fear 

the  aggressions  of  Russia,  or  Spain, 

or  Great  Britain,  but  if  it  were  not 

for  the  educational  work  of  the  East 

Aurora   University    and   other  like 

institutions,  I  would  fear  that  the 

greed  of  our  own  trustocracy  would 

destroy  the  Republic  just  as  all  other 

republics  have  been  destroyed  by  the 

greed  and  arrogance  of  a  class  who 

have  secured  special  privileges  for  the 

few  &  & 

When  the  students  in  Munich,  in 

Berlin,  or  Heidelberg  lose  themselves 

in  the  labyrinth  of  philosophy,  some 

one  says : '  'Back  to  Kant, ' '  I mmanuel 

53 


Thomas     Kant,  the  greatest  modern  philoso- 
Jefferson     pher  jfi  > 

And  so,  with  an  American  problem, 
whatever  problem  it  may  be,  if  you 
only  go  back  to  Jefferson  you  will 
find  how  to  solve  it,  whether  it  is 
1905  or  2005.  After  Jefferson  went 
up  to  Philadelphia  and  wrote  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  what 
did  he  do  next  ?  Was  he  seeking  that 
which  influences  the  average  man  of 
vanity  ?  No.  He  declined  a  reelection 
to  the  Continental  Congress,  saying : 
"  I  must  go  to  the  State  Legislature. 
I  must  begin  reforms  at  home  where 
I  can  be  of  the  most  service  to  the 
people."  What  did  he  do?  Let  me 
say  to  you  that  he  introduced  the 
four  bills  which  have  contributed 
more  to  the  progress  and  prosperity 
of  the  American  people  in  a  single 
century,  than  has  been  accomplished 
in  any  other  civilization  in  a  thousand 
years.  He  introduced  a  bill  against 
entailed  estates,  and  made  it  a  part 
of  the  fundamental  law  of  the  State 
of  Virginia,  and  made  it  substantially 

54 


the  law  of  an  entire  continent.  He     Thomas 

took  away  from  the  dead  hand  the    Jefferson 

power  of  controlling  and   directing 

property  in  perpetuity  regardless  of 

the  needs  and  conditions  of  a  higher 

intelligence  and  a  later  civilization. 

He   also  introduced  another  bill  to 

abolish  the  laws  in  favor  of  the  clergy, 

who  were  being  paid  out  of  the  public 

treasury.  You  could  n't  believe  with 

Confucius,  nor  with  Mohammed,  nor 

in  the  Jewish  religion;  you  had  to 

believe   in  the  Christian  religion — 

not  that  Christian  religion  taught  by 

Jesus  of  Nazareth,  but  that  Christian 

religion  taught  by  the  theologians. 

You  were  compelled  to  accept  the 

theology  of  Milton's  Paradise  Lost, 

and  you  were  compelled  to  accept  the 

religion  which  imposed  upon  many 

thinkers  the  penalty  of  ostracism  and 

martyrdom,  or  the  degradation  and 

dry  rot  of  hypocrisy. 

It  was  still  more  true  in  the  day  of 

Jefferson  than  it  is  now,  as  Father 

Ducey  of  New  York  so  happily  puts 

it,  *  *  We  have  too  much  churchianity 

55 


Thomas  and  too  little  Christianity. ' '  You  were 
Jefferson  not  permitted  to  voice  any  thought 
or  idea,  or  advance  any  theory  outside 
the  beaten  path  of  superstition  and 
bigotry,  without  assuming  the  pains 
&  penalties  of  legalized  persecution, 
without  subjecting  yourself  to  the 
danger  of  legalized  murder.  It  is  a 
matter  of  recorded  history  that  prior 
to  the  teachings  of  Thomas  Jefferson, 
a  poor  Quaker  woman  came  to  this 
country  to  preach  her  simple  and 
sincere  doctrine  of  Christ's  work  and 
mission  on  earth.  For  the  first  offense 
of  such  preaching  the  statutory  pen- 
alty was  to  cut  off  one  ear.  For  the 
second  offense  they  cut  off  the  other 
ear,  and  if  she  came  back  the  third 
time  she  was  put  to  death. 
Think,  my  friends,  of  a  civilization 
so  benighted,  so  bigoted,  so  viciously 
superstitious  as  this!  Think  of  the 
founders  of  the  Quaker  religion,  who 
came  to  teach  the  simple  lesson  of 
loving  your  neighbor  as  you  love 
yourself,  who  came  to  emphasize  by 
their  precept  and  their  example,  the 

56 


religion  of  the  Nazarene  teacher  who  Thomas 
taught  that  we  should  do  unto  others  Jefferson 
as  we  would  have  them  do  unto  us, 
and  who  did  not  teach  the  necessity 
of  church  spires  and  taxation  of  the 
people  for  the  support  of  the  clergy. 
C{  I  think  it  was  Anna  Dickinson 
who  said  that  the  Quaker  religion,  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  followers 
of  that  faith,  has  nestled  and  fledged 
more  philanthropists  than  any  other 
religion  on  the  face  of  the  earth ;  and 
yet  the  heroic  women  and  men  who 
brought  that  simple  faith  to  America 
were  persecuted  even  unto  death. 
Legalized  murder  did  not  stop  with 
the  repeal  of  this  statute  against  the 
union  of  church  and  state,  nor  did 
legalized  murder  begin  in  the  State 
of  Virginia  or  in  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts &&>  Neither  did  legalized 
murder  begin  when  John  Calvin  had 
Michael  Servetus  indicted,  convicted 
and  burned  at  the  stake  for  believing 
and  saying  that  *  *  Unbaptized  infants 
are  not  lost,"  and  that,  "It  is  foolish 
to  say  that  the  salvation  of  a  baby 

57 


Thomas  depends  upon  a  man's  choosing  to 
Jefferson  have  it  baptized."  Neither  did  legal- 
ized murder  begin  when  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  was  indicted  &  condemned 
to  death.  Neither  did  legalized  murder 
begin  when  Socrates  was  indicted, 
convicted  and  condemned  to  death. 
C[  But  we  need  not  go  back  farther 
in  studying  the  history  of  these  legal- 
ized murders  and  murderers  jfi  The 
question  before  us  on  this  anniversary 
of  the  birthday  of  American  freedom 
is  to  decide  not  when  this  legalized 
persecution  and  murder  began,  but 
when  they  shall  cease.  John  Brown,  at 
the  hands  of  a  court  duly  organized, 
was  legally  murdered  &  Benjamin 
Lundy,  the  teacher  and  inspirer  of 
William  Lloyd  Garrison,  was  tramp- 
led almost  to  death  under  the  heel  of 
a  brutal  and  vicious  slave  dealer  in 
the  city  of  Baltimore,  and  when  the 
slave  dealer  was  brought  before  the 
court  and  tried  for  assault  with  intent 
to  kill,  the  little  political  puppet  who 
sat  on  the  political  bench  catering 
to  the  controlling  influence  of  the 

58 


community,  commenting  upon  the  Thomas 
verdict  of  the  jury,  which  found  the  Jefferson 
slave  dealer  guilty,  fined  him  one 
dollar  and  remarked  that  Lundy  had 
received  no  more  than  he  deserved. 
Q  I  cite  these  instances  to  show  how 
uncertain  &  unreliable  any  intellect  is ; 
to  show  you  how  necessary  it  is  that 
each  generation  as  well  as  each  indi- 
vidual should  be  instant  and  constant 
in  the  prayer  for  that  divine  help 
which  will  make  us  honest  enough, 
generous  enough  and  bold  enough  to 
dedicate  ourselves  with  Jefferson  to 
the  doctrine  of  *  *  eternal  hostility  to 
every  form  of  tyranny  over  the  mind 
of  man."  This  statute  of  religious 
freedom,  written  by  the  hand  of 
Thomas  Jefferson,  deserves  a  monu- 
ment towering  as  high  as  the  tallest 
monument  that  ever  has  been  or  ever 
will  be  dedicated  to  the  brain  that 
formulated  for  all  time  the  Christian 
charity  and  the  Christian  equality  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Cf  In  addition  to  the  statute  against 
entails  and  the  statute  for  religious 

59 


Thomas  freedom,  Jefferson  introduced  and 
Jefferson  secured  the  passage  of  the  act  against 
primogeniture,  that  accursed  policy 
transplanted  from  England  to  this 
country,  under  which  the  oldest  son 
inherited  all  the  real  estate  of  the 
father,  regardless  of  the  rights  of  the 
daughters  and  the  other  sons.  In  this 
generation  it  is  impossible  to  respect 
the  brain  and  heart  of  a  civilization 
gross  enough  to  entertain  the  plan  of 
disinheriting  the  daughters  whose 
mothers  had  helped  to  create  the 
estate,  but  such  was  its  tyranny  over 
the  mind  of  man  in  Jefferson's  time 
that  at  first  it  was  impossible  to 
induce  the  committee  having  the  bill 
in  charge  to  report  in  favor  of  placing 
all  the  sons  and  daughters  upon  a 
basis  of  equality  with  reference  to 
ancestral  realty. 

Finally  the  other  members  of  the 
committee  proposed  to  report  an 
amendment  to  Jefferson's  bill,  so  as 
to  give  the  oldest  son  twice  as  large 
a  share  as  any  of  the  other  children. 
Thereupon,  Jefferson,  hi  the  course 

60 


of  his  argument  against  this  proposed     Thomas 
modification  of  his  bill,  said :  Jefferson 

"  I  will  agree  to  support  your  bill 
giving  twice  as  much  of  the  property 
of  the  father  to  the  oldest  son  as  is 
given  to  each  of  the  other  sons  or 
daughters,  provided  you  will  incor- 
porate into  the  law  a  condition  that 
requires  the  oldest  son  to  eat  twice 
as  much  food,  wear  twice  as  much 
clothing,  and  do  twice  as  much  work 
as  each  of  the  other  children." 
CJ  This  argument  lifted  the  cloud  of 
ignorance  from  the  stupid  brains  of 
the  other  members  of  the  committee, 
and  strange  to  say,  they  all  consented 
to  bring  in  the  bill  giving  to  each  of 
the  children,  whether  son  or  daughter, 
equal  share  in  the  father's  property. 
Cf  This  bill,  my  friends,  is  another 
evidence  of  the  radicalism  of  Thomas 
Jefferson — another  evidence  of  the 
courage  and  determination  of  this 
master  statesman  to  free  the  human 
mind  from  one  more  of  the  tyrannies 
and  fetiches  of  the  Dark  Ages.  It  was 
no  small  matter  for  Jefferson  to  thus 

61 


Thomas  antagonize  the  first-born  sons  of  the 
Jefferson  entire  State  of  Virginia.  Conceive,  if 
you  please,  the  mental  status  of  the 
first-born  sons  who  were  then  in 
possession  of  the  estates  of  their  dead 
fathers  &  Conceive,  if  you  will,  the 
bitter  opposition  of  the  first-born  sons 
who  were  still  living  in  expectation 
of  receiving  the  ancestral  establish- 
ment in  its  entirety  jfi  Here  was  a 
powerful  and  wealthy  class  whom 
Jefferson  antagonized  at  the  expense 
of  being  called  an  anarchist  and  a 
demagogue,  but  time  and  the  sense 
of  decency  of  a  higher  civilization 
has  demonstrated  that  Jefferson,  the 
radical,  was  not  a  bidder  for  place 
and  power  when  he  introduced  a  bill 
against  primogeniture. 
In  addition  to  these  three  bills,  he 
introduced,  in  the  same  legislature 
of  1777,  a  bill  providing  for  universal 
education,  beginning  with  what  is 
to-day  known  as  the  common  or  the 
district  school,  and  ending  with  what 
is  to-day  known  as  the  state  univer- 
sity. Let  us,  if  possible,  transport 

62 


ourselves  into  the  conditions  and  Thomas 
environments  of  the  men  who  lived  Jefferson 
in  Jefferson's  time,  and  we  shall  find 
that  class  known  as  the  landed  aris- 
tocracy and  another  class  known  as 
the  " white  trash,"  inferior  to  the 
negro  slaves  in  the  estimation  of  the 
landed  aristocrats.  There  we  find  the 
people  ruled  by  a  clergy  supported 
at  the  expense  of  the  taxpayers  &&- 
There  we  find  many  of  the  ministers 
reaping  a  rich  reward  in  the  way  of 
bonuses  and  compensation  for  acting 
as  teachers  and  tutors,  and  thus  we 
find  two  united  influences,  the  land 
owners  and  the  preachers,  opposed, 
for  selfish  reasons,  to  the  education 
of  the  children  of  the  poor  at  the 
expense  of  the  state,  and  so  effective 
was  this  opposition  to  Jefferson's  bill 
for  universal  education  that  the  bill 
was  defeated. 

At  that  time  the  ministers  had  two 
special  privileges,  one  was  to  dictate 
religion  on  Sunday,  and  the  other  to 
sell  education  on  Monday;  in  fact, 
the  special  privileges  and  property 

63 


Thomas  rights  of  the  preachers  in  education 
Jefferson  and  religion  in  the  days  of  Jefferson's 
young  manhood,  remind  me  of  a 
remark  I  once  heard  made  by  one 
who  said  that  he  kept  all  his  property 
and  all  his  religion  in  his  wife's  name. 
The  preachers  of  Jefferson's  time  also 
remind  me  of  a  remark  I  heard  made 
by  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  when  he 
said  from  his  pulpit  in  Plymouth 
Church:  "I  have  known  a  great 
many  men  so  religious  they  would 
not  shave  themselves  on  Sunday,  but 
they  would  shave  their  neighbors  on 
Monday." 

Have  I  made  it  plain  that  this  radical, 
Thomas  Jefferson,  was  more  radical 
and  more  courageous  than  the  most 
radical  of  any  of  the  radicals  of  your 
day  and  my  day  ?  Jefferson  found 
himself  surrounded  and  hemmed  in 
by  an  intellectual  and  social  condition 
which  required  the  teaching  of  dead 
languages,  and  the  translation  from 
one  language  into  another,  almost  to 
the  exclusion  of  any  other  form  of 
intellectual  activity.  This  process  of 

64 


education  was  largely  responsible  for     Thomas 
the  petrified  intellects  of  the  Dark    Jefferson 
Ages,  where  it  was  contended  that 
"nothing  that  is  new  is  true,   and 
nothing  that  is  true  is  new;  "  an  age 
which  branded  scientific  thought  as 
a  heresy  and  repudiated  the  spirit  of 
invention  as  the  manifestation  of  a 
witch  or  a  devil. 

What  sheer  nonsense,  this  drumming 
and  drumming  away  at  Latin  and 
Greek  to  the  exclusion  of  electricity 
and  chemistry  1  I  believe  in  mental 
muscle ;  I  believe  in  the  discipline  of 
the  brain  by  the  act  of  translating 
from  one  language  to  another,  but 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  overtraining 
in  the  translation  of  dead  languages 
as  well  as  overtraining  in  baseball 
and  football,  and  other  forms  of  ath- 
letic intoxication  «?*  This  generation 
does  not  fully  appreciate  its  indebt- 
edness to  Jefferson  the  educator,  nor 
its  great  indebtedness  to  Jefferson  the 
legislator.  It  was  Jefferson's  mission 
to  liberate  the  human  mind  from  the 
routine  repetition  of  classic  literature. 

65 


Thomas  It  was  Jefferson's  mission  to  open 
Jefferson  the  human  mind  to  the  light  and  the 
lightning  of  God's  increasing  purpose. 
It  was  Jefferson's  mission  to  prepare 
the  way  for  the  progress  that  has 
come  as  a  result  of  the  public  school 
system.  Since  the  day  when  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  came  to  teach  the  father- 
hood of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of 
man,  no  teacher,  no  preacher,  no 
legislator  has  brought  to  the  millions 
,  of  human  beings  a  diviner  or  holier 
message  than  the  bill  for  universal 
education  introduced  by  Jefferson, 
the  radical,  in  the  little  House  of 
Burgesses  in  the  Old  Dominion  in 
1777  •*  Then  and  there  began  the 
agitation  which  to-day  has  its  best 
vindication  in  our  common  school 
system  and  in  such  institutions  as  the 
University  of  Michigan. 
I  was  taught  Latin  and  Greek,  but 
I  thank  God  I  was  able  to  forget  it, 
and  I  condemn  my  teachers  for  not 
having  known  enough  to  direct  my 
hours,  and  days,  and  weeks,  and 
months,  and  years  to  the  study  of 

66 


science,  history  &  literature.  C(  The     Thomas 

business  of  the  state  should  be  more    Jefferson 

than  building  penitentiaries  and  jails, 

and  electing  sheriffs  and  constables. 

It  is  fully  as  much  the  business  of  the 

statesman  and  the  state  to  train  the 

brain  as  it  is  the  business  of  the  clergy 

and  the  church  to  train  the  heart.  I 

have  no  patience  with  that  class  of 

statesmanship  which   collects  taxes 

for  the  sole  purpose  of  placing  a  club 

in  the  hands  of  a  policeman,  a  gun 

in  the  hands   of  a   soldier,   and  a 

battleship  upon   the  bosom  of  the 

ocean.  I  am  one  of  those  who  agree 

with    Elizabeth    Barrett    Browning 

that: 

Conquering  may  prove  as  lordly  and  complete 

a  thing 
In  lifting  upward  as  in  striking  low.  . 

I  am  one  of  those  who  believe  that 
the  fame  of  Alexander,  and  Caesar 
and  Napoleon  should  be  cast  upon 
the  junk  heap  of  curiosities  of  an 
obsolete  age.  Their  military  careers 
are  as  much  out  of  date,  &  as  useless 
for  instruction  or  inspiration,  as  are 

67 


Thomas  the  ox-cart  and  the  corduroy  road  in 
Jefferson  this  day  of  steam  and  electric  travel. 
CJ  Jefferson  believed  what  the  Japan- 
ese adopted  thirty  years  ago  as  their 
national  motto:  "Education  is  the 
basis  of  all  progress."  But  Thomas 
Jefferson  found  the  preachers  and  the 
wealthier  classes  opposed  to  his  free 
school  system,  because  it  threatened 
to  take  away  from  the  one  class  a 
few  paltry  pieces  of  silver,  which  they 
were  accustomed  to  receive  for  their 
teaching,  and  from  the  other  class 
a  few  extra  dollars  in  the  way  of 
taxes  for  the  support  of  the  free 
schools  jfi  This  measure  deprived 
Jefferson,  the  radical,  of  the  influence 
of  the  rich,  because  they  did  not  want 
their  sons  and  daughters  educated 
with  the  "  white  trash,"  nor  did  they 
care  to  be  taxed  for  the  purpose  of 
lifting  the  children  of  the  poor  to  a 
position  where,  by  education,  they 
might  easily  prove  themselves  the 
superior,  intellectually  and  morally, 
to  those  who  had  been  reared  in 
indolence  and  luxury.  The  combined 

68 


influences  of  these  so-called  upper     Thomas 
classes — the  so-called  best  society —    Jefferson 
prevented  the  passage  of  this  bill  at 
this  time. 

In  Jefferson's  young  manhood  he 
was  unable  to  secure  the  establish- 
ment of  the  university,  the  grammar 
school  or  the  primary  school.  His 
bill  for  a  free  school  was  defeated 
absolutely  in  1777,  nor  did  he  make 
any  substantial  headway  with  his 
educational  system  until  ten  years 
after  he  had  retired  from  the  presi- 
dency of  the  United  States;  but 
Jefferson,  like  Socrates  of  Athens, 
and  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  was  untiring 
and  unwavering  in  his  devotion  to  a 
principle,  and  having  foreseen  in  his 
philosophic  eye  the  great  benefits  of 
a  free  school  system,  was  instant  and 
constant  in  his  advocacy  of  it,  and 
finally  there  came  some  little  evidence 
that  his  agitation  was  bearing  fruit. 
Q  In  1819,  he  secured  from  the  State 
Legislature  a  petty  appropriation  of 
fifteen  thousand  dollars  to  change 
Albemarle  Academy  into  the  Central 

69 


Thomas  College  of  Virginia,  and  a  little  later 
Jefferson  he  succeeded  in  having  them  call  the 
institution  the  University  of  Virginia, 
of  which  he  was  the  father  &  founder. 
Cf  At  this  time  the  people  of  Virginia 
lacked  in  conscience  and  intelligence 
sufficient  to  establish  the  common 
school.  It  remained  for  the  State  of 
Michigan  and  other  western  states  to 
establish  a  school  system  extending 
from  the  district  school  through  the 
high  school  to  the  state  university. 
Calculate,  if  you  can,  the  very  great 
influence  for  good,  for  higher  and 
nobler  manhood  and  purer  woman- 
hood, that  has  permeated  every  state 
of  the  United  States  as  a  result  of 
the  establishment  of  the  University 
of  Michigan  jfi  Its  influence  is  not 
confined  to  the  United  States  and 
Canada — it  is  world- wide.  It  is  but 
a  fair  tribute  to  the  University  of 
Michigan  and  the  citizenship  of  that 
state,  to  say,  that  in  the  State  of 
Ohio  in  the  city  of  Columbus,  we 
have  the  Ohio  State  University, 
fashioned  and  patterned  after  the 
70 


University  of  Michigan,  which  is  Thomas 
destined  to  become  one  of  the  great  Jefferson 
educational  institutions  of  the  world ; 
an  institution  which,  I  believe,  will 
do  more  for  the  people  of  Ohio  than 
all  its  lawyers,  all  its  editors,  all  its 
preachers,  &  all  its  doctors  combined. 
C{  Thomas  Jefferson  was  the  man  who 
reformed  our  monetary  system.  It  was 
he  who  brought  about  the  decimal 
system,  and  induced  our  government 
to  abandon  the  English  system  «* 
Those  of  you  who  think  this  was  a 
small  matter,  would  have  learned 
better  had  you  been  in  Detroit  at 
any  time  within  the  past  few  years, 
and  seen  how  the  people  there  have 
quarreled  about  whether  they  would 
use  Eastern  Standard  Time,  Central 
Standard  Time  or  Sun  Time.  For 
several  years  the  people  of  Detroit, 
it  seems,  had  no  other  occupation 
except  explaining  to  each  other,  and 
to  visitors,  which  kind  of  time  they 
were  using  in  making  their  appoint- 
ments, and  which  kind  of  time  they 
had  in  mind  while  explaining  their 

71 


Thomas  failure  to  keep  their  appointments. 
Jefferson  In  five  minutes'  time  they  could 
have  agreed  to  either  set  all  their 
watches  a  few  minutes  ahead,  or  to 
turn  them  back  a  few  minutes  and 
drop  the  subject  forever. 
And  so,  in  the  days  of  Jefferson,  the 
radical,  it  was  a  matter  of  much 
controversy  whether  they  should  give 
up  the  system  of  pounds,  shillings 
and  pence,  and  adopt  the  system  of 
dollars,  dimes  and  cents.  Even  to 
this  day,  in  some  parts  of  the  country, 
the  people  are  talking  about  shillings. 
C(I  have  not  tried  in  this  hurried 
review  of  his  legislative  efforts,  to 
point  out  all  the  radical  propositions 
of  this  greatest  political  philosopher 
of  any  age,  but  I  have  demonstrated, 
I  am  sure,  not  only  that  Jefferson 
was  a  radical  in  1769,  but  that  he 
was  so  radical  that  his  greatest  fol- 
lower, Abraham  Lincoln,  suffered 
martyrdom  in  1865,  for  believing  with 
Jefferson  in  the  emancipation  of  the 
black  slave. 


72 


[HAT  do  we  mean  by  a  Thomas 
radical  ?  We  mean  a  man  Jefferson 
who  pulls  things  up  by 
the  roots  and  examines 
them,  shakes  off  the  dirt 
and  looks  at  them  as 
they  actually  are,  strips  them  of  all 
the  rubbish  of  superstition  and  the 
prejudice  handed  down  from  the  Dark 
Ages;  handed  down  from  the  time 
when  men  believed  in  alchemy  and 
branded  chemistry  as  heresy ;  handed 
down  by  the  benighted  brains  that 
never  saw  nor  dreamed  of  an  electric 
light.  The  radical  in  politics  and  in 
statesmanship  is  he  whose  intellect  is 
controlled  &  dominated  by  the  same 
holy  and  poetic  purpose  that  inspired 
Tennyson  to  say : 

I  doubt  not  through  the  ages  one  increasing 

purpose  runs, 
And  the  thoughts  of  men  are  widened  with  the 

process  of  the  suns. 

Lincoln  was  a  radical  when,  on  the 
floor  of  Congress,  he  denounced  the 
message  of  President  James  K.  Polk 
as  a  falsified  statement  concerning 

73 


Thomas  conditions  obtaining  in  the  matter 
Jefferson  of  Texas  and  Mexico.  Lincoln  was  a 
radical  when  he  delivered  his  Cooper 
Institute  speech,  so  radical  indeed, 
that  the  New  York  Herald,  the 
leading  newspaper  of  that  day,  called 
him  a  baboon,  monkey  and  buffoon. 
Lincoln  was  a  radical  when  he  issued 
the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation. 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  a  radical  when 
He  overturned  the  tables  of  the  money 
changers  in  the  Temple,  and  took  a 
whip  and  drove  the  sordid  hypocrites 
out  of  the  House  of  God. 
Martin  Luther  was  a  radical  when  he 
repudiated  the  doctrine  of  the  church 
concerning  celibacy,  &  declared  that 
he  would  not  give  up  the  love  of  his 
wife  for  all  the  wealth  of  Croesus.  It 
was  an  exceedingly  radical  proposition 
in  his  day  for  a  religious  devotee  to 
assert  that  the  holiest  and  noblest  and 
most  helpful  fellowship  a  man  could 
have  is  the  wife  who  understands. 
The  English  barons  who  forced  the 
Magna  Charta  from  King  John  were 
radicals,  and  the  men  who  signed  the 

74 


Declaration  of  Independence  were  Thomas 
radicals.  Cowardice  and  conservatism  Jefferson 
has  not  been  the  characteristic  of  any 
of  the  great  leaders  of  any  of  the 
great  reforms  in  the  history  of  the 
world  it*  Step  by  step  the  march  of 
democracy,  which  is  the  march  of  the 
rights  of  man,  has  been  accomplished 
under  the  banner  and  leadership  of 
the  radical  >  The  people  who  have 
suffered  under  the  heel  of  the  tyrant 
have  always  been  in  the  majority, 
and  they  are  still  in  the  majority, 
and  they  will  continue  to  suffer  under 
the  debasing  tyrannies  of  slaveocracy, 
czarocracy  and  trustocracy  so  long  as 
God  is  unable  to  find  or  create  enough 
radicals  to  brave  the  pains  and  the 
penalties  of  persecution,  ostracism, 
slander,  libel  and  assassination. 
All  the  good  things  of  the  world 
come  up  from  the  people,  grow  up 
from  below,  from  the  roots,  if  you 
please.  Even  God  Himself,  with  all 
His  chemistry,  with  all  His  power, 
and  with  all  His  knowledge,  has 
never  been  able  to  fashion  a  great 

75 


Thomas  man  or  a  noble  woman  either  in  the 
Jefferson  palace  or  the  castle  &  He  finds  it 
necessary,  when  He  wants  a  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  to  go  to  the  manger;  when 
He  needs  an  Abraham  Lincoln  He 
goes  to  the  humblest  and  meanest 
little  cabin  in  the  State  of  Kentucky. 
And  every  time  some  divine  leader 
comes  up  branding  social  &  economic 
bodies  as  whited  sepulchers,  every 
time  a  leader  inspired  from  on  High 
puts  in  his  appearance,  the  opposing 
conservatives  find  themselves  branded 
by  this  earnest  radical  as  hypocrites 
and  Pharisees. 

One  of  the  sad  things  in  the  history 
of  the  world  is  that  all  the  hypocrites 
and  Pharisees  in  the  age  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  did  not,  like  Judas,  go  and 
hang  themselves.  Unfortunately,  the 
hypocrites  and  Pharisees  have  never 
stopped  propagating  and  multiplying 
their  kind  and  now  we  have  a  vast 
overproduction  in  every  country  of 
the  world. 

It  was  Jefferson's  supreme  purpose 
to  make  men  think.  The  Declaration 
76 


of  Independence  was  a  political  sum-  Thomas 
mary  and  crystallization  of  all  the  Jefferson 
moral  purpose  of  the  laws  of  Moses 
and  all  the  teachings  of  the  Divine 
Master,  who  taught  that  you  should 
"love  your  neighbor  as  yourself." 
Coming  at  the  time  it  did,  its  chief 
purpose  was  to  set  men  thinking  of 
their  political  rights. 
The  purpose  of  the  law  of  religious 
freedom  for  Virginia  was  to  set  men 
and  women  thinking  of  their  religious 
rights,  likewise  the  bill  for  universal 
education  was  to  set  men  and  women 
thinking  of  the  incalculable  &  sacred 
advantages  of  an  educated  mind  as 
against  one  darkened  and  enslaved  by 
ignorance,  superstition  and  prejudice. 
The  commercial  instinct  tells  us  that 
*  *  he  is  a  benefactor  who  makes  two 
blades  of  grass  grow  where  only  one 
grew  before,"  but  God,  in  His  divine 
messages,  is  whispering  the  idea  to 
every  cultivated  &  civilized  intellect 
that  the  supreme  benefactors  of  all 
ages,  the  holiest  and  noblest  teachers 
and  preachers  of  all  religions,  are 

77 


Thomas  those  who  can  make  two  thoughts 
Jefferson  grow  where  only  one  grew  before. 
C(  Thought — free,  untrammeled  and 
unprejudiced  thought — is  the  mother 
of  invention  &  The  unequaled  and 
unparalleled  strides  of  progress  along 
all  the  lines  of  transportation,  mech- 
anism, chemistry  and  electricity,  in 
the  last  generation,  are  due  entirely 
to  the  ever  increasing  intellectual 
purposes  &  privileges  of  those  minds 
which  have  been  liberated  from  the 
fetiches,  superstitions  and  prejudices 
of  an  obsolete  age  &  Thought  is 
the  greatest  architect,  the  greatest 
sculptor,  the  greatest  painter  in  the 
universe  J*  There  can  be  no  higher 
architecture  than  the  building  of  a 
head;  there  is  no  higher  sculpture 
than  the  chiseling  of  a  face ;  there  is 
no  higher  portraiture  than  the  paint- 
ing of  an  expression,  and  nothing  can 
prevent  you  from  building  a  good 
head,  or  chiseling  a  good  face,  or 
painting  a  good  expression  except 
your  own  thoughts,  and  it  was  with 
this  faith  and  with  this  belief  that  I 

78 


wrote  in  several  of  your  albums  here  Thomas 
to-day,  "You  are  what  you  think,  Jefferson 
not  what  you  think  you  are,"  and  if 
to-day,  on  this  anniversary  of  the 
birthday  of  American  liberty,  you 
are  thinking  about  justice  to  your 
neighbor,  if  you  are  thinking  about 
equality,  if  you  are  thinking  of  loving 
others  as  you  love  yourself,  if  you  are 
thinking  of  doing  unto  others  as  you 
would  have  them  do  unto  you,  then, 
my  friends,  you  fully  understand  the 
meaning  of  the  word  "democracy," 
and  if  you  understand  the  meaning 
of  the  word  ' '  democracy, ' '  you  will 
not  be  merely  passive  or  indifferent  or 
conservative  in  the  face  of  so  much 
injustice  and  inequality  in  our  great 
republic. 

Democracy  is  the  doctrine  of  doing 
things.  True  democracy  is  not  an 
organization  for  the  benefit  of  a  few 
spoilsmen.  There  is  a  wide  difference 
between  the  statesmanship  of  dem- 
ocracy and  the  politics  of  democracy, 
as  wide  as  the  difference  between  a 
statesman  &  a  politician.  A  statesman 

79 


Thomas  is  a  man  seeking  an  opportunity  to 
Jefferson  do  something  for  everybody,  and  the 
politician  is  a  man  seeking  an  oppor- 
tunity to  do  everybody  for  something. 
Q  If  you  are  a  Democrat  or  if  you 
are  a  Republican,  you  may  be  a  good 
partisan,  or  you  may  be  a  good  citi- 
zen, and  there  is  a  wide  gulf  between 
the  two.  If  the  party  to  which  you 
belong  does  not  make  you  love  all 
humanity  better  and  better  each  day, 
then  it  is  high  time  that  you  change 
your  party.  I  once  heard  a  Quaker 
woman  preach  a  sermon,  in  which 
she  said:  "If  thy  religion  doesn't 
change  thee,  then  thee  had  better 
change  thy  religion. ' ' 
And  so  I  say  in  this  message,  that 
if  your  political  party  does  n't  day 
by  day  inspire  you  with  a  nobler  and 
sweeter  love  for  all  your  neighbors, 
then  it  is  high  time  that  you  change 
your  political  religion  &  The  true 
Democrat  is  the  radical  who  wants 
to  make  our  eighty  millions  of  people 
each  and  all  educated,  self-respecting, 
neighbor- loving  men  and  women, 

80 


recognizing  equality  without  regard  Thomas 
to  sex,  &  without  regard  to  previous  Jefferson 
condition  of  religious  or  economic 
servitude.  True  democracy  is  a  swarm 
of  bees,  each  &  all  ready  and  willing 
to  carry  its  share  of  honey  to  the 
hive,  and  each  and  all  ready  to  sting 
the  drones  and  cast  them  out. 
As  I  said  before,  God  Himself  cannot 
make  a  man  or  woman  worthy  of 
consideration  except  in  the  crucible 
of  industry  &  Work  is  not  a  curse. 
Indolence  is  a  beastly  mother,  breed- 
ing no  high  purpose  and  no  sweet 
sentiments,  breeding  nothing  but  the 
imps  of  selfishness  j*  Earning  one's 
bread  by  the  sweat  of  one's  brow — 
whether  on  the  outside  or  the  inside 
— is  not  a  curse  •*  God  help  the 
children  of  the  rich,  the  poor  can 
work.  I  have  no  patience  with  the 
rich  loafer,  I  think  much  less  of  him 
than  I  do  of  the  poor  loafer,  and  I 
have  no  more  respect  for  the  female 
loafer  than  I  have  for  the  male  loafer. 
A  loafer  is  a  loafer — nothing  more 
need  be  said,  nothing  worse  can  be 

81 


Thomas  said.  fl[  It  doesn't  make  any  differ- 
Jefferson  ence  to  me  what  the  color  or  the  sex, 
I  am  a  strict  constructionist  on  the 
word  "  equality,"  and  the  only  thing 
worth  living  for  is  an  opportunity  to 
work,  and  the  greatest  privilege  of 
work  is  the  building  of  a  brain.  The 
honor  of  a  bee  is  the  storing  of  the 
hive  with  honey,  and  the  salvation 
and  immortality  of  the  human  being 
is  the  storing  of  the  human  brain 
with  thought  and  love.  I  never  felt 
quite  so  much  pleased  as  when  I  saw 
carved  deeply  on  that  chapel  door  of 
the  Roy  crofters  this  thought :  "Life 
without  industry  is  guilt;  Industry 
without  art  is  brutality."  If  I  had 
traveled  a  thousand  miles  to  get  here, 
and  could  carry  back  to  my  home 
only  that  one  thought,  and  have  it 
with  me  throughout  the  rest  of  my 
life,  I  would  consider  the  time  and 
the  expense  of  the  trip  as  the  best 
investment  ever  made  &  I  repeat: 
"Life  without  industry  is  guilt; 
Industry  without  art  is  brutality." 
CJ  According  to  my  understanding 

82 


of  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  radical,  this    Thomas 

was  his  conception  of  the  principle   Jefferson 

and  sentiments  which  should  govern 

the  life  and  career  of  every  American 

citizen. 

I   think   my   friend  Powderly,  and 

Carroll  D.  Wright,  and  others  who 

are  working  on  the  statistics  of  labor, 

tell  us  that  if  all  the  men  and  women 

in   this  country  were  to  work  two 

hours  and  thirty  minutes  a  day,  we 

could  produce  as  much  food,  clothing 

and  shelter  as  each  of  us  needs  and 

now  uses.    Why  is  it,  then,  that  a 

mother's  work   is  never  done,  and 

that  men  are  still  driven  eight,  ten 

or  twelve  hours  a  day  ?  Why  should 

we  not  work  two  hours  and  thirty 

minutes  a  day,  and  spend  the  rest  of 

our  time  in  hanging  pictures  on  the 

wall,  putting  beautiful  art  glass  in  the 

windows,   covering   our  floors   with 

carpets,  listening  to  sweet  music,  and 

holding  communion  with  the  master 

minds  of  the  centuries,  whose  books 

would  be  so  easily  within  our  reach 

in  these  days  of  Roycroft  industry 

83 


Thomas  and  ingenuity?  <(  I  have  heard  it  said 
Jefferson  that  a  country  that  can  raise  good 
hogs  can  raise  good  men,  but  I  am 
afraid  that  the  commercial  spirit  of 
this  age  is  showing  a  disposition  to 
consolidate  the  two  and  make  mere 
hogs  of  the  men  in  order  to  increase 
the  commercial  assets  of  the  country. 
Greed  and  vanity  are  the  examples 
furnished  us  by  the  trustocracy,  and 
the  young  manhood  and  the  young 
womanhood  of  this  country  seem  to 
be  more  desirous  of  imitating  this 
so-called  social  *  *  Four  Hundred, ' ' 
than  to  practise  the  radicalism  of 
Thomas  Jefferson,  Thomas  Paine, 
Benjamin  Franklin,  Washington  and 
the  Adamses. 

It  is  vanity,  it  is  selfishness,  which 
develops  and  establishes  trustocracy 
in  the  land  &  This  desire  to  strut 
and  pose  as  the  superior  of  your 
neighbors,  is  the  actual  cause  and 
substance  of  the  parasite  who  lives 
on  the  labor  of  others.  The  difference 
between  the  parasite  and  other  men 
is  only  a  matter  of  degree.  The  farmer 

84 


is  very  apt  to  be  a  man  who  wants    Thomas 

to  own  all  the  adjoining  farms.  The    Jefferson 

merchant  in  the  city  is  very  apt  to 

be  a  man  who  wants  to  own  all  the 

stores  in  the  city.  This  greed  to  be 

the  whole  thing  and  to  own  the  earth 

is  not  solely  confined  within  the  thick 

pachyderm  of  kings  and  czars. 

I  remember  the  story  of  a  preacher 

in  a  country  community,  who  went 

from  house  to  house  soliciting  money 

to  repair  the  church  j*  One  of  the 

farmers  replied :  "I  can't  subscribe, 

I  need  all  my  money. "  *  *  What  for  ?  " 

said  the   preacher.  "I  want  to  buy 

another  farm."   "What  for?"  said 

the  preacher.  "To  raise  more  corn," 

said  the  farmer.  "What  for?"  said 

the  preacher.  * '  To  fatten  more  hogs, ' ' 

said  the  farmer.  "What  for?"  said 

the  preacher.  "To  sell  and  get  more 

money,"    said  the   farmer.   "What 

for  ? ' '  said  the   preacher.   * '  To  buy 

more  land,"  said  the  farmer. 

And   thus,  my  friends,  we  are  all 

living   in   a  civilization  where   the 

tendency   and  the  temptation  is  to 

85 


Thomas  get  into  the  treadmill  of  more  land, 
Jefferson  more  corn,  more  hogs,  more  money. 
Oh,  for  an  age  and  a  civilization 
where  the  universal  cry  shall  not  be 
more  land,  more  corn,  more  hogs, 
&  more  money,  but  more  men,  more 
women,  more  brain  and  more  heart ! 
If  we  are  to  be  monopolists,  let  us 
be  monopolists  of  the  intellectual 
and  spiritual  substance,  with  which 
God's  universe  is  stored  so  full,  so 
high,  so  deep  and  so  wide  that  there 
is  enough  for  all  of  us.  The  dollar 
should  be  regarded  as  only  a  crowbar 
to  open  the  safe  of  civilization. 
Doctor  Gladden  stands  forth  to-day 
as  conspicuous  against  one  of  the 
grossest  crimes  of  our  civilization  as 
did  Abraham  Lincoln  against  negro 
slavery.  The  great  power  which  the 
Rockefellers  have  acquired  in  this 
country  is  by  the  corrupt  use  of  their 
money.  The  system  with  which  John 
D.  Rockefeller  has  been  identified  is 
one  which  has  depended  largely  upon 
corruption  for  its  greatest  power.  It 
is  a  system  which  to-day  furnishes 

86 


the  corruption  funds  in  the  cities  and     Thomas 

states   of  this  Union  by  which  the    Jefferson 

nominations   of  the  legislative   and 

even  the  judicial  candidates  are  made. 

City    councilmen,    state   legislators, 

national  legislators,  and  judges  alike 

receive  their  nominations  in  both  the 

parties  in  many  communities  at  the 

hands  of  hired  political  bosses,  whose 

corruption  funds  are  furnished  them 

by  the  men  who  represent  the  great 

corporate  interests  such  as  the  steam 

railways,    the    street    railways,    the 

Standard  Oil  and  other  institutions 

which  live  and  fatten  by  the  special 

privileges  secured  from  the  hands  of 

the  puppets  placed  in  power  by  this 

so-called  system. 

And  it  was  high  time  that  Doctor 

Washington  Gladden,  or  some  other 

great  and  courageous  representative 

of  God's  kingdom  on  earth,  should 

point  the  finger  of  scorn  at  this  school 

of  hypocrites  and  Pharisees  &  I  am 

proud  of  the  fact  that  Washington 

Gladden  is  an  honored  and  eminent 

citizen  of  my  own  city  of  Columbus ; 

87 


Thomas  that  he  has  for  years  been  recognized 
Jefferson  as  the  ablest  man  in  the  pulpit  in  the 
State  of  Ohio,  and  all  good  men  and 
all  good  women  ought  to  be  thankful 
that  this  man  had  the  courage  and 
character  to  point  the  finger  of  scorn 
at  John  D.  Rockefeller  and  say, 
"Thou  art  the  man." 
What  we  need  most  in  this  age  is  a 
Jeffersonian  radical,  and  such  choice 
characters  as  Washington  Gladden, 
Ida  Tarbell,  Lincoln  Steffens,  John 
Brisben  Walker,  Thomas  Lawson, 
S.  S.  McClure,  William  Randolph 
Hearst,  Elbert  Hubbard  and  Eugene 
Debs  are  but  a  few  of  the  patriots  of 
this  day  and  this  generation  who  will 
lead  the  millions  to  a  higher  plane  of 
intellectual  light  and  moral  purpose 
than  that  ever  attained  in  the  past. 
Q  We  have  Washington  Gladden 
and  Ida  Tarbell  to  thank  for  the 
eleven  millions  of  money  contributed 
to  the  cause  of  education  by  Mr. 
John  D.  Rockefeller  within  the  past 
few  weeks.  I  like  the  argument  made 
by  Mr.  Rockefeller  in  support  of  my 

88 


hero,  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  radical.      Thomas 

This  contribution  of  eleven  million     Jefferson 

dollars  by  Rockefeller  is  a  confession 

by  him   that  in   order  to   purchase 

respectability  he  must  make  gigantic 

contributions  to  the   cause  of  free 

education,  a  proof  on  his  part  that 

Jefferson's  bill   for  free   education, 

although  it  was  defeated  in  1777 — 

ignominiously   defeated — was  a  bill 

so  sacred  and  holy  that  Rockefeller 

confesses  that  the  surest  way  he  can 

divert  public  attention  from  the  wave 

of  contempt  which  is  about  to  engulf 

him  is  by  contributions  to  the  cause 

of  education. 

By  these  gifts  Rockefeller  concedes 

that  the  great  mission  of  American 

manhood  is  not  to  acquire  and  retain 

millions,  but  that  the  noblest  cause 

to  be  served  in  this  grand  American 

Republic  is  to  furnish  an  opportunity 

to  the  children  of  the  poor  to  blossom 

a  heart  and  ripen  a  brain  equal  to  that 

of  Plato,    Demosthenes,   Aristotle, 

Socrates  and  Pericles  *!*  These  five 

choice  intellects  were  the  product  of 

89 


Thomas  the  little  city  of  Athens  almost  in  a 
Jefferson  single  generation.  One  might  well 
say  that  they  lived  so  near  each  other 
that  they  shook  hands  each  with  the 
others,  and  the  question  that  often 
comes  to  me  is  why  is  it  not  possible 
for  such  minds  as  these  to  be  reared 
in  a  single  generation  in  all  the  great 
cities  of  America?  Along  scientific 
lines,  in  the  fields  of  transportation, 
machinery  and  electricity,  we  have 
the  equals  if  not  the  superiors  of 
these  intellectual  giants  of  ancient 
times,  but  let  us  not  forget  that  the 
time  is  ripe  for  giants  and  heroes  in 
the  science  of  government,  that  we 
may  lift  this  entire  republic  into  a 
higher  atmosphere  of  equality. 
You  men  and  women  who  are  here 
from  all  parts  of  the  United  States, 
honoring  this  your  Mecca,  are  doing 
a  great  work  each  in  your  respective 
communities  emphasizing  the  urgent 
necessity  of  thinking,  emphasizing 
the  necessity  of  exercising  the  brain 
and  the  heart  in  all  the  light  and 
science  of  this  electric  age.  And  if  in 

90 


each  of  your  communities  you  are  Thomas 
exercising  the  heart  and  the  brain  of  Jefferson 
equality,  then  you  are  devoting  your 
energies  to  the  cause  of  the  equality 
of  the  sexes  in  every  particular.  The 
same  Wendell  Phillips,  the  same 
William  Lloyd  Garrison,  the  same 
Benjamin  Lundy  who  advocated  the 
liberty  of  the  negro  slave,  began  the 
agitation  for  woman's  equality  >£&> 
Benjamin  Lundy,  the  little  Quaker, 
who  taught  William  Lloyd  Garrison 
his  first  lessons  against  negro  slavery, 
was  reared  in  a  Quaker  home,  reared 
in  a  Quaker  church,  married  to  a 
Quaker  girl,  believed  and  preached 
and  practised  the  Quaker  doctrine  of 
equality  of  the  sexes. 
I  hope  that  each  and  every  one  of  us 
may  take  a  new  courage  and  a  new 
resolution  from  this  East  Aurora 
meeting,  and  go  home  determined 
not  only  for  that  equality  which  will 
level  down  the  trustocracy  to  the 
plane  of  all  democracy,  but  level  up 
the  women  of  our  great  republic  to 
a  plane  of  democracy  and  equality, 

01 


Thomas  making  the  Declaration  of  1776  not 
Jefferson  merely  a  prophecy  and  a  dream,  but 
a  reality  and  a  consummation. 
The  only  quarrel  I  have  with  you, 
Elbert  Hubbard  and  Alice  Hubbard, 
is  that  you  have  not  placed  enough 
pictures  of  the  great  women  of  the 
world  on  the  walls  of  this  institution. 
You  have  a  room  dedicated  to  George 
Eliot,  and  another  one  to  Elizabeth 
Barrett  Browning,  but  you  should 
not  forget  there  was  an  American 
woman  who  preached  a  sermon  that 
was  greater  than  any  ever  preached 
by  her  great  and  immortal  brother.  I 
refer  to  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe.  Her 
Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  did  more  for 
liberty  and  equality  than  did  all  the 
sermons  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
the  greatest  of  American  preachers. 
There  are  other  women  also  whose 
pictures  and  whose  names  should 
decorate  the  walls  of  this  Roycroft 
University,  and  I  am  sure  when  we 
come  back  on  some  other  occasion, 
we  shall  see  that  the  Hubbards  have 
done  their  full  duty  in  this  direction 

92 


as  they  have  in  so  many  others  »€^     Thomas 

Q  Not  only  would  I  have  you  take    Jefferson 

back  to  your  respective  homes  the 

thought   that   the  time  is  ripe  for 

legislation  and  for  amendments  to 

the  constitution  that  will  secure  the 

equality  of  women,  but  there  is  also 

another  great  reform  that  ought  to 

be  in  operation  before  the  close  of 

President  Roosevelt's  term,  and  that 

is,  the  improvement  of  the  postal 

service  by  the   installation   of  the 

telegraph  in  every  post-office  of  the 

republic.  There  are  only  twenty-five 

thousand  Western  Union  offices  in 

this   country,  while  there   are  over 

seventy-five  thousand  post-offices  j* 

This  leaves  more  than  fifty  thousand 

centers  of  population  where  there  is 

no  way  to  communicate  thought  by 

electricity. 

No  one  can  explain  why  the  national 

government  has  been  so  dilatory  in 

this  except  by  the  same  explanation 

which  must  be  given  in  shame  for  so 

many   other  short -comings   in   our 

governmental  affairs.  It  is  estimated 

93 


Thomas  that  thirty  words  could  be  sent  by 
Jefferson  wire,  no  matter  what  the  distance, 
for  the  petty  sum  of  five  cents.  In 
other  words,  instead  of  sending  a 
letter  by  using  a  two-cent  stamp,  we 
would  use  a  five-cent  stamp  to  send 
a  telegram,  whether  we  sent  it  to  the 
neighboring  town  or  sent  it  to  the 
Pacific  coast. 

In  Franklin's  day,  when  post-offices 
and  post-roads  were  established,  we 
carried  thought  on  horseback  at  the 
rate  of  forty  miles  a  day  &  At  this 
time  we  are  carrying  thought  on  the 
iron  horse  at  the  rate  of  sixty  miles 
an  hour.  What  reason  can  be  given 
why  we  should  not  be  using  God's 
electricity  to  send  messages  of  thirty 
words  three  thousand  miles  in  thirty 
seconds  at  a  cost  of  only  five  cents  ? 
Q  More  than  seventy  bills  have  been 
introduced  in  Congress  to  install  a 
postal  telegraph,  but  not  one  of  them 
has  been  passed.  Out  of  the  nineteen 
committees  appointed  to  investigate 
the  matter,  seventeen  have  reported 
favorably,  and  yet  we  do  not  have 

94 


the   postal  telegraph,  and  the  only     Thomas 

opposition   to  it  among  the  eighty     Jefferson 

millions  of  people  is  the  one  family 

that  owns  and  controls  the  Western 

Union.  If  the  people  understood  the 

science  of  government,  they  would 

soon  call  to  a  reckoning  those  who 

represent  them  at  Washington  and 

have  this  reform  without  any  further 

delay. 

In  a  recent  issue  of   The  Philistine 

our  friend  Hubbard  published  John 

Wanamaker's   statement  about  the 

parcel  post  &  Mr.  Wanamaker,  in 

explaining   why   he   could  not  get 

Congress  to   act,  stated  that  there 

were  only  five  arguments  against  the 

parcel  post,  and  these  five  arguments 

were  the  Adams  Express  Company, 

the  United  States  Express  Company, 

the  American  Express  Company,  the 

Wells  Fargo  Express  Company  and 

the  Southern  Express  Company  &&:> 

Q  And  so,  my  friends,  there  is  only 

one  argument  against  the  installation 

of  the  postal  telegraph,  and  that  is 

the  Western  Union. 

95 


Thomas  How  long  will  it  be  before  you  use 
Jefferson  your  heads  on  a  question  like  this 
and  become  radicals  ?  How  long  will 
it  be  before  President  Roosevelt  will 
be  radical  enough  to  call  the  attention 
of  Congress  to  the  urgent  necessity 
of  investigating  this  great  trust  that 
has  a  monopoly  of  the  privilege  and 
right  to  transmit  thought  by  wire  ? 
The  national  government  used  the 
people's  money  to  enable  Professor 
Morse  to  make  the  experiments  with 
an  electric  telegraph,  which  resulted 
in  sending  the  first  message  between 
Baltimore  and  Washington  •**  Will 
some  one  explain  how  it  happens 
that  to-day  the  national  government 
and  the  eighty  millions  of  people 
have  been  cheated  out  of  their  legal 
title  to  this  great  property  right  ? 
G[  You  and  I  know  that  there  is  no 
sensible  argument  against  the  postal 
telegraph.  You  and  I  know  there  is 
no  good  and  sufficient  reason  why  the 
post-office  system  in  this  country 
should  be  inferior  to  that  of  most 
European  countries.  You  and  I  know 

96 


that  there  is  no  good  reason  why  the     Thomas 

American    government    should    not     Jefferson 

avail  itself  of  the  use  of  electricity 

in  transmitting  thought.  If  Franklin 

was   right   in   carrying   thought  on 

horseback,  if  the  governmental  policy 

was  correct  in  transferring  the  burden 

from   the  horse  to  the  locomotive, 

then   why   should  we  not  take  the 

next   step  and  make  use  of  God's 

electricity  for  the  benefit  of  all  the 

people  ? 

I  insist  upon  it  that  the  best  is  none 

too  good  for  the   poorest   and  the 

humblest  in  this  land.  I  insist  upon 

it  that  it  would  be  better  for  this 

government  to  stop  its  expenditures 

on  an  increasing  army  and  navy,  and 

instead  make  an  appropriation  for  the 

construction  of  the  postal  telegraph 

system  at  once. 

I   know  there   are  those   who    call 

themselves    conservatives   who    are 

opposed  to  any  reform,  and  opposed 

to  all  progress.  We  had  conservatives 

in  the  days  of  George  Washington. 

We  now  speak  of  them  with  scorn 

97 


Thomas  and  call  them  Tories.  In  every  age, 
Jefferson  in  every  race,  in  every  nation,  we 
have  that  class  of  catering,  cringing 
things  that  call  themselves  conserva- 
tives. It  was  the  conservative  that 
crucified  Jesus ;  it  wail  the  conserva- 
tive that  executed  John  Brown;  it 
was  the  conservative  that  murdered 
Lovejoy ;  it  was  the  conservative  that 
spit  upon  Wendell  Phillips  &  stoned 
William  Lloyd  Garrison  in  the  streets 
of  Boston.  With  this  array  of  facts 
against  the  conservative,  it  is  high 
time  that  he  be  known  and  branded 
as  a  public  enemy. 
I  do  not  consider  it  any  honor  or 
credit  to  a  man  to  say  that  he  was  a 
conservative  when  the  great  crime  of 
negro  slavery  was  here.  Neither  is  it 
a  credit  to  a  man  to  say  that  he  is  a 
conservative  to-day  when  the  great 
crime  of  female  slavery  is  here.  Nor 
is  it  any  credit  to  a  man  to  say  that 
he  is  a  conservative,  when  one  trust, 
when  one  monopoly,  deprives  the 
eighty  millions  of  people  of  the  right 
to  transmit  their  thoughts  and  to 

98 


transact  their  business  by  the  use  of     Thomas 

God's  electricity  at  actual  cost.  Jefferson 

Property  rights  have  had  their  day. 

We  have  talked  all  too  long  about 

vested  rights.  The  hour  is  at  hand 

when  the  men  and  women  of  highest 

moral  purpose,  not  only  here  but  in 

other  countries,  have  stepped  onto 

that    upper   plane  where  they   are 

demanding  of  governments  that  they 

consider  human  rights,    and   moral 

rights  and  sentimental  rights  jfi  The 

civilization  of  the  coming  age  will 

be  known  as  the  age  of  love,  as  the 

age  of  affection  and  as  the  age   of 

sentiment.  Here,  on  this  side  of  the 

ocean,  or  nowhere,  the  human  race 

will  be  lifted  up  to  that  high  plane 

of  equality  where  the  majority  will 

no  longer  be  subordinated   by  the 

tyrants,  where  the  greatest  good  to 

the  greatest  number  will  mean  not 

merely   commercial  assets  but  will 

mean  intellectual  and  spiritual  good. 

Q  Here  in  this  country,  or  nowhere, 

we  shall  rear  the  men  and  women  fit 

for  higher  and  nobler  things  than  the 

99 


Thomas  accumulation  of  money,  and  the 
Jefferson  concentration  of  power  within  the 
possession  of  a  few,  that  they  may 
use  it  to  dominate  and  tyrannize  over 
the  millions  of  their  fellow  citizens. 
I  am  tired  of  reading  in  literature 
that  "  He  was  the  noblest  Roman  of 
them  all. ' '  I  am  exceedingly  anxious 
to  live  to  see  the  time  when  the  very 
highest  manhood  and  womanhood  of 
the  world  will  make  it  necessary  for 
the  new  literature  to  describe  the 
highest  attainment  intellectually  and 
morally  by  saying  of  some  heroic 
personality,  "He  was  the  noblest 
American  of  them  all. ' ' 
Thomas  Jefferson  was  aware  that  the 
greatest  citizenship  was  possible  only 
in  a  country  that  had  the  greatest 
intellectual  liberty.  Thomas  Jefferson 
was  a  philosopher,  and  he  was  more 
than  that,  he  was  a  prophet.  To  his 
keen  insight  and  high  moral  intellect 
it  was  clear  that  the  mission  of  this 
country  was  to  produce  men  and 
women  rather  than  dollars,  pig  iron 
and  pork.  From  1769  down  to  1826, 
LOO 


a  period  of  fifty-seven  years,  Thomas  Thomas 
Jefferson's  life  was  dedicated  and  Jefferson 
consecrated  to  the  sacred  cause  of  the 
intellectual  and  spiritual  property  of 
every  human  being,  and  well  might 
he  say  on  his  deathbed :  '  *  I  have  done 
for  my  country  and  for  all  mankind 
all  that  I  could  do,  and  I  now  resign 
my  soul  without  fear  to  my  God." 
Even  in  this  dying  expression  he 
recognized  and  preached  the  fact  that 
in  doing  God's  service  &  accounting 
for  the  same,  it  was  only  necessary 
to  report  to  Peter  at  the  gate,  "I 
have  done  for  my  country  and  for  all 
mankind  all  that  I  could  do."  He 
knew  that  Peter  would  ask  him  no 
questions  as  to  whether  he  believed 
in  ' '  infant  damnation, ' '  or  whether 
he  believed  in  "sprinkling"  or  in 
"immersion."  He  knew  that  On 
High  the  only  test  of  your  religion 
would  be  applied  by  an  inquiry  into 
your  acts  in  behalf  of  your  neighbors. 
C[  That  Thomas  Jefferson  was  both 
sincerity  and  integrity  personified,  is 
best  shown  by  the  memorandum  left 

101 


Thomas  indicating  what  he  desired  inscribed 
Jefferson  upon  his  tombstone  >€&>  It  was  his 
request  that  his  last  resting  place  be 
marked  by  a  simple  granite  shaft,  and 
that  upon  this  granite  these  words 
should  be  carved: 


Author  of 

The  Declaration  of  Independence 

of  the  Statute  of  Virginia  for  Religious  Freedom 

and  Father  of  the  University  of  Virginia 

Mark  these  words,  mark  these  three 
recitals,  concerning  equality,  religious 
freedom  and  education;  each  and  all 
of  them  represent  the  life  work  of  a 
man  who  recognized  no  other  test  or 
criterion  of  manhood  or  womanhood 
except  intellectual  attainment. 
We  have  just  closed  the  greatest  of 
all  the  Worlds'  Fairs.  The  St.  Louis 
Exposition  cost  three  times  as  many 
millions  of  dollars  as  it  cost  Thomas 
Jefferson,  President  of  the  United 
States,  to  purchase  half  a  continent. 
Three  times  as  much  was  spent  in 
102 


preparing  to  celebrate  this  one  act  of     Thomas 

Jefferson's  presidential  career  as  was    Jefferson 

expended   for  the  entire   Louisiana 

Purchase,  and  yet  Jefferson  himself 

did  not  deem  it  worthy  of  mention. 

Neither  was  his  character  blemished 

with  that  kind  of  vanity  which  would 

care  to  record  the  fact  that  he  had 

been  twice  elected  President  of  the 

United  States.  Material  &  mercenary 

things,  worldly  fame  and  glory,  did 

not  appeal  to  his  philosophic  mind. 

I  am  doubtful  whether  he  would  have 

suggested  any  inscription  had  it  not 

been  God's  purpose  to  have  Thomas 

Jefferson   proclaim   even    from  the 

granite  that  marks   his   last  resting 

place  that  the  radical,  and  the  radical 

alone,  is  the  man  who  keeps  the  fires 

of  progress  burning  upon  the  altars 

of  equality,  religious  freedom,   and 

education. 

Jefferson  was  the  greatest  political 

philosopher,    the   greatest   political 

agitator,  the  greatest  political  radical 

the  world  has   ever  known,  and   I 

know  of  no  higher  tribute  to  pay  to 

103 


Thomas  Thomas  Jefferson  than  to  remind  you 
Jefferson  again  of  Lincoln's  declaration  that 
he  never  entertained  a  sentiment 
which  he  did  not  draw  from  the  life 
and  writings  of  Thomas  Jefferson, 
and  the  sweet  sentiment  and  loving 
charity  of  Lincoln's  brain  and  heart 
were  never  better  expressed,  than 
when  he  said  to  one  of  his  friends : 
"I  hope  it  will  be  said  of  me  when 
I  am  dead  and  gone,  by  those  who 
know  me  best,  that  I  always  plucked 
a  thistle  and  planted  a  flower  when 
I  thought  a  flower  would  grow." 
I  know  of  no  language  sweeter  or 
more  poetic  than  this  expression  of 
Lincoln,  the  radical  disciple,  who  was 
great  enough  to  admit  that  his  own 
ripe  and  patriotic  soul  was  but  the 
result  of  the  radical  teaching  of  his 
great  master,  Thomas  Jefferson. 
In  this  great  age,  with  manifestations 
of  God's  increasing  purpose  on  every 
hand,  I  am  not  a  pessimist,  believing 
that  the  most  patriotic  souls  are  in 
the  grave.  I  believe  there  are  to-day 
American  men  and  women  with  a 

104 


patriotic  purpose  as  great  as  that  of  Thomas 
Jefferson  and  Lincoln,  and  I  believe  Jefferson 
that  you  and  I  will  live  to  see  the 
names  of  other  great  radicals  carved 
in  God's  firmament,  high  above  the 
horizon,  shining  like  the  stars  of 
eternity,  more  enduring  than  the 
granite  over  Jefferson's  grave,  in 
memory  of  the  heroic  struggles,  the 
sacrifices,  the  ostracism,  persecution, 
martyrdom  &  victories  of  radicalism. 
G[  And  it  remains  for  you  and  me, 
in  the  exercise  and  expression  of  our 
highest  patriotic  devotion  to  the 
perpetuity  of  this  great  American 
Republic,  to  thank ,  God  for  every 
radical  He  has  ever  given  to  the 
children  of  men,  and  to  demonstrate 
the  sincerity  of  our  thankfulness,  not 
by  slandering,  but  by  praising  and 
immortalizing  the  life  and  career  of 
the  greatest  of  American  radicals, 
Thomas  Jefferson. 


105 


Here  endeth  the  Two  Articles  on 
Thomas  Jefferson,  written  by  Elbert 
Hubbard  and  John  J.  Lentz,  and 
Printed  with  Rubricated  Side-heads 
on  Italian  Hand- Made  Paper,  by 
The  Roycrofters,  at  their  Shop, 
which  is  in  East  Aurora,  Erie  Co., 
New  York,  U.  S.  A.  MCMVI 


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